'When fairly launched into a subject, especially in a formal lecture in his favourite field, French political thought, these disquieting elements faded; and words and cadences flowed elegantly, engaging the imagination like themes in a romantic symphony - something not always present, alas, in his writing, which tended to be involuted and tantalisingly diffuse, defects of his supreme quality, a widely sweeping, impatient mind'.
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Ralph Glasser Print: Book
'Writing on liberty, arguing that its attainment was an inborn duty, he said that in order to divine its proper use one must "Listen to the still, small voice within you." The image was not original. Poe, among others, had used it; and in Laski's usage it expressed the world view of the Philosophes. Still, it was an engaging one, despite its naive assumption that clear sight, and goodwill, resided eternally in the noble savage within us - if we would only set him free'.
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Ralph Glasser Print: Book
