.. In view of the violence of political power responsibility must always prevail. The only possible synthesis between conviction and responsibility is thus one in which passion is subordinated to responsibility, so that political responsibility is the primary value to be pursued with passion, thereby engendering what H. H. Bruun terms a 'responsible ethic of conviction.' Weber states: 'To be sure, mere passion, however genuinely felt, is not enough. It does not make a politician, unless passion as devotion to a "cause" also makes responsibility to this cause the guiding star of action. Nicholas Gane
About This Quote

In Weber's words, those who have a responsibility to a cause, as opposed to those who only have passion for a cause, will always take the greater risks and will be more likely to accomplish things. In short, passion without responsibility would lead to 'mere' political action.

Source: Max Weber And Postmodern Theory: Rationalization Versus Reenchantment

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