Saturday, February 15, 2014

Plus ça change

"The potentates of this world are [...] apt to consider themselves as possessed of an inherent superiority, which gives them a right to govern, and makes mankind their own; and this infatuation is almost every where fostered in them by the creeping sycophants about them, and the language of flattery which they are continually hearing."

Richard Price, "A Discourse on the Love of Our Country" (4 November 1789)

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2 comments:

A K Haart said...

I'm surprised our universities don't offer degree courses in creeping sycophancy. It usually attracts a salary, expenses and a pension.

Paddington said...

The world has changed. What Churchill feared (among other things) has come to pass - we now live dependent on scientists and engineers, and our leaders will need to understand that technology.