Jonathan Sumption: A Mind Worth Following
Here are several quotes and essays by Jonathan Sumption. He is one of the few (British) public intellectuals today willing to challenge orthodoxy with clarity and precision. His work defends liberal principles against technocratic overreach, often reminding us that freedom is not a default, it’s a discipline. If you don’t yet read Sumption, you should.
“Democracy provokes expectations which are very difficult, in some cases impossible, for the state to satisfy.” - New Statesman, 2025
"Law is not a substitute for politics. When the courts become the main forum for political controversy, the results are likely to be both bad law and bad politics." - Reith Lectures, 2019
"The law should be the last resort, not the first, when dealing with social and moral questions." - Law in a Time of Crisis (2021)
"Judges are not the conscience of the nation. They are not there to deliver social justice. They are there to apply the law." - Reith Lectures, 2019
"We are living through the greatest invasion of personal liberty in our history." - The Times, 2020, on COVID-era government powers
"Democracy is not just about majority rule. It is about the institutional constraints that prevent majorities from becoming tyrannical." - The Spectator, 2021
"We cannot rely on governments to relinquish powers once the emergency that justified them has passed." - Reith Lectures, 2019
"The appetite for being told what to do is one of the most dismal features of modern British life." - The Spectator, 2020
Lectures, Interviews & Articles
Unherd
Jonathan Sumption on Gaza, lockdown and the ECHR Will humanity ever escape the shadow of war?
New Statesman
Democracy is impossible for the state to satisfy
The Times
Jonathan Sumption: ‘I’m not optimistic about the future of our democracy.”
The New York Times
Why Cultural Decline in the U.S. Is a Threat to Democracy
The Tablet
Why voters have lost faith in democracy
BBC Sounds
The Reith Lectures