Permanence and progression are not enemies, for there can be no improvement except upon a sound foundation, and that foundation cannot endure unless it is progressively renewed.
Russell Kirk
Roots of American Order
Topic: Society & Civil Religion
“No order is perfect: man himself being imperfect… But if the roots of an order are healthy, that order may be reinvigorated and improved. If the roots are withered, “the dead tree gives no shelter.” Permanence and progression are not enemies, for there can be no improvement except upon a sound foundation, and that foundation cannot endure unless it is progressively renewed. The traveler in the wasteland seeks the shelter of living order.”
Russell Amos Kirk (October 19, 1918 – April 29, 1994) was an American political theorist, moralist, historian, social critic, and literary critic, known for his influence on 20th-century American conservatism. His 1953 book The Conservative Mind gave shape to the amorphous post–World War II conservative movement. It traced the development of conservative thought in the Anglo-American tradition, giving special importance to the ideas of Edmund Burke. Kirk was considered the chief proponent of traditionalist conservatism. He was also an accomplished author of Gothic and ghost story fiction.
The Roots of American Order
Kirk, Russell. The Roots of American Order. Regnery Gateway, 1991, pp. 9-10 [Chapter 1, Order, The First Need of All].
Russell Kirk
Theme: A Vision of America
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Russell Kirk, The Roots of American Order
“This book is meant to water roots, for the renewing of order and the betterment of justice and freedom. What Patrick Henry, in 1775, called “the Lamp of experience” is our hope of order refreshed.”
–Russell Kirk [The Roots of American Order].