Robespierre, however, was not the type of leader finally destined to emerge from the Revolution.
Inasmuch as society cannot go on without discipline of some kind, men were constrained, in the absence of any other form of discipline, to turn to discipline of the military type.
A remarkable feature of the humanitarian movement, on both its sentimental and utilitarian sides, has been its preoccupation with the lot of the masses.
Tell him, on the contrary, that he needs, in the interest of his own happiness, to walk in the path of humility and self-control, and he will be indifferent, or even actively resentful.
If quantitatively the American achievement is impressive, qualitatively it is somewhat less satisfying.
Furthermore, America suffers not only from a lack of standards, but also not infrequently from a confusion or an inversion of standards.
A man needs to look, not down, but up to standards set so much above his ordinary self as to make him feel that he is himself spiritually the underdog.
A democracy, the realistic observer is forced to conclude, is likely to be idealistic in its feelings about itself, but imperialistic about its practice.
The humanitarian would, of course, have us meddle in foreign affairs as part of his program of world service.
Yet Aristotle's excellence of substance, so far from being associated with the grand style, is associated with something that at times comes perilously near jargon.
To say that most of us today are purely expansive is only another way of saying that most of us continue to be more concerned with the quantity than with the quality of our democracy.
Democracy is now going forth on a crusade against imperialism.
If a man went simply by what he saw, he might be tempted to affirm that the essence of democracy is melodrama.
Anyone who thus looks up has some chance of becoming worthy to be looked up to in turn.
