Michael Novak, RIP

By all accounts, Novak was a gentle soul who was productive in terms of his work and innovative in his thinking. From Acton, here are five facts about and six quotes from Novak.

A Novak quote on research which demonstrates that the way out of poverty for most Americans is to make a few simple life choices: “Some 97 percent of those who complete high school, stay married (even if not on the first try), and work full-time year-round (even at the minimum wage) are not poor. Nearly all poverty in the United States is associated with the absence of one or more of these three basic accomplishments”—not with insufficient social spending or a lack of economic opportunity.

From Chuck Colson on Michael Novak: "Free, democratic capitalism is like a three-legged stool, supported by economic freedom, political freedom, and moral restraint. Today's sub-prime mortgage crisis, which could threaten the American economy, shows what happens when you forget that third leg of the stool—moral restraint."

Samuel Gregg on Novak's classic book, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, in its 1982 pre-Reagan-Revolution, pre-fall-of-Socialism, some-crappy-Catholic-social-thinking context... 

Flavio Felice and Arthur Brooks here and here through AEI, Michael Barone through AEI, Brian Anderson in City Journal, Jeffrey Tucker for FEE, William Grimes in the NYT, Art Lindsley with IFWE, and the Independent Institute with an overview of Novak's life. Joel Belz in World, relying on a cool quote of Novak's: “Socialism is a system for saints. Democratic capitalism works because it’s a system for sinners.”

Finally, Heritage is getting ready to put on a celebration of Novak's life and work.