The Conservative Heart Quotes

“No one sighs regretfully on his deathbed and says, “I can’t believe I wasted all that time with my wife and kids,” “volunteering at the soup kitchen,” or “growing in my spirituality.” No one ever says, “I should have spent more time watching TV and playing Angry Birds on my phone.” In my own life, nothing has given my life more meaning and satisfaction than my Catholic faith and the love of my”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“Conservatives have the most effective solutions for human flourishing in our intellectual DNA. Our ideas have lifted up people all over the world. But the American people do not trust us to put those principles into practice to help those who need help right here.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“There is a lot to be mad about in America today, but we must never forget that our cause is a joyous one. Conservatives should be optimists who believe in people. We champion hope and opportunity. Fighting for people, helping those who need us, and saving the country—this is, and should be, happy work.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“The ideals of free enterprise and global leadership, central to American conservatism, are responsible for the greatest reduction in human misery since mankind began its long climb from the swamp to the stars.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“When Ronald Reagan made his case to the American people, he didn’t spend a lot of time talking about what he was fighting against. He spent most of his speech talking about who he was fighting for. This is what conservatives too often forget.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“But at the same time, a bloated welfare state that nudges middle-class citizens away from the labor force is moving our society away from the dignity of earned success.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“Meaningful progress toward social justice cannot be made in sclerotic education systems that put adults’ job security before children’s civil rights.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“First, we should concentrate each day on the happiness portfolio: faith, family, community, and earned success through work. Teach it to those around you, and fight against the barriers to these things. Second, resist the worldly formula of misery, which is to use people and love things. Instead, remember your core values and live by the true formula: Love people and use things. Third, celebrate the free enterprise system, which creates abundance for the most people—especially the poor. But always remember that the love of money is the root of all evil, and that the ideal life requires abundance without attachment.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“What the United States needs is for a unifying, positive, aspirational force to sweep through our national community. American conservatives have a generational opportunity to become precisely this kind of force. We have a shot, if we take it, to help every single American build a better life, and unite our nation in the process.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“To be a happy warrior you must work to be a genuinely happy person.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“Data from 2002 suggest that people who identified as “conservative” or “extremely conservative” made up less than one-fifth of the population but provided more than a quarter of all blood donations.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“•      Households headed by a “conservative” give, on average, 30 percent more dollars to charity than households headed by a “liberal.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“the best data consistently show that more than eight in ten Americans like or love their jobs. And incredibly, that result holds steady across the income distribution. This notion that “knowledge work” is fulfilling, but everyone who works in a garage or a restaurant loathes his or her life, is an incredible act of condescension masquerading as concern. The truth is much more egalitarian. Again, economic mobility is crucial, and stagnant wages are a huge problem for American families. But this doesn’t change the deep truth that work, not money, is the fundamental source of our dignity. Work is where we build character. Work is where we create value with our lives and lift up our own souls. Work, properly understood, is the sacred practice of offering up our talents for the service of others.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“And just as sincerely, this is a book for open-minded liberals who understand that our country would benefit from new passion and new ideas in the fight against poverty.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America

“ago? No. Setting aside a host of policy problems, even the phrase “compassionate conservatism” is problematic. It validates those who falsely claim that conservatives are uncompassionate in the first place. It grafts “compassion” onto conservatism like an unnatural appendage. This is a major error. Notwithstanding our communication failures, a creed that flows from the optimistic belief that every person is valuable and capable of earned success is inherently compassionate to the core.”
― Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America