Word: hobgoblin
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...make a President out of a ribbon salesman"). He later backtracked and gave Truman all-out support. Said the President in his message of condolence: "[He] became . . . the exemplar of the philosopher's teaching that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...
...that the epithet "red-baiter," uttered in shrill tones of ethical exaltation, has a paralyzing effect on almost all liberal critics of Communism, is one of the most effective silencing tricks in the versatile Communist repertory. The Lyons recipe for overcoming it: "Walk up boldly to the terrible hobgoblin and . . . say, 'Boo!'' He warns liberals that they will not find it easy at first "and may have to practice it before their mirrors with doors closed and blinds drawn. . . . [But] in the end they will be cured, and will be able to examine the mythology of Stalinism...
...consistency is a hobgoblin of little minds, President Roosevelt has amply demonstrated in the past eight years that his is an intellect of no little capacity. Consequently the American people might have been guilty of a slight touch of skepticism when he spoke last October of keeping American boys out of the war and, more specifically, of prohibiting ships carrying the American flag to enter war zones. From all indications of the past few days that skepticism was justified...
...faults are obvious. ... I suffer from cacoëthes loquendi, a mania or itch for talking. . . . But there never has been superadded to these vices of mine the withering, embalming vice of consistency. . . . Let me quote Emerson: 'A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen...