Jonathan Haidt Quotes

‘The most powerful force ever known on this planet is human cooperation – a force for construction and destruction.’ – Jonathan Haidt

‘Morality binds people into groups. It gives us tribalism, it gives us genocide, war, and politics. But it also gives us heroism, altruism, and sainthood.’ – Jonathan Haidt

‘Economic issues are just as much moral issues as social issues.’ – Jonathan Haidt

‘If you have high IQ, you’re really good at finding post-hoc arguments to support your feelings of truthiness.’ – Jonathan Haidt

‘Democrats talk about programs like Social Security or Medicare, but it’s not clear to most voters what Democrats’ core moral values are.’ – Jonathan Haidt

‘I think Republicans need to take income inequality more seriously. Not because I favor equality of outcomes. I do not. I think the Right is correct to stress merit and earned rewards, not handouts and forced equality. But I think what Republicans are blind to is that power corrupts.’ – Jonathan Haidt

‘Social conservatives are very focused on strengthening the family, and I think they are right to do so. One of the worst blind spots of the Left has been its reluctance to say that marriage matters for children.’ – Jonathan Haidt

‘By temperament and disposition and emotions, I’m a liberal; but in my beliefs about what’s best for the country, I’m a centrist.’ – Jonathan Haidt

‘When you hear someone criticize a policy on the other side, that’s fine. But when you start hearing motive-mongering and demonization, stand up to it just as you would if it were something that was racist or sexist. If we avoid the demonization, disagreements can be positive.’ – Jonathan Haidt

‘The great conservative insight is that order is really hard to achieve. It’s really precious, and it’s really easy to lose.’ – Jonathan Haidt