> "I'm still trying to decipher that". Kerry had gone on too long and
> into too much depth and Bush just exploited our collective boredom.
"This very fact that crowds possess in common ordinary qualities explains
why they can never accomplish acts demanding a high degree of intelligence.
The decisions affecting matters of general interest come to by an assembly
of men of distinction, but specialists in different walks of life, are not
sensibly superior to the decisions that would be adopted by a gathering of
imbeciles. The truth is, they can only bring to bear in common on the work
in hand those mediocre qualities which are the birthright of every average
individual. In crowds it is stupidity and not mother-wit that is
accumulated. It is not all the world, as is so often repeated, that has
more wit than Voltaire, but assuredly Voltaire that has more wit than all
the world, if by "all the world" crowds are to be understood."
"In a crowd men always tend to the same level, and, on general questions, a
vote, recorded by forty academicians is no better than that of forty
water-carriers. [...] With regard to social problems, owing to the number of
unknown quantities they offer, men are substantially, equally ignorant."
"On occasion, the leader may be intelligent and highly educated, but the
possession of these qualities does him, as a rule, more harm than good. By
showing how complex things are, by allowing of explanation and promoting
comprehension, intelligence always renders its owner indulgent, and blunts,
in a large measure, that intensity and violence of conviction needful for
apostles. The great leaders of crowds of all ages, and those of the
Revolution in particular, have been of lamentably narrow intellect; while it
is precisely those whose intelligence has been the most restricted who have
exercised the greatest influence."
"It is terrible at times to think of the power that strong conviction
combined with extreme narrowness of mind gives a man possessing prestige.
It is none the less necessary that these conditions should be satisfied for
a man to ignore obstacles and display strength of will in a high measure.
Crowds instinctively recognise in men of energy and conviction the masters
they are always in need of."
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext96/tcrwd10.txt
Small prints thereof do apply on these quotes. (C) Project Gutenberg 1996.
Tudor Georgescu
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
> into too much depth and Bush just exploited our collective boredom.
"This very fact that crowds possess in common ordinary qualities explains
why they can never accomplish acts demanding a high degree of intelligence.
The decisions affecting matters of general interest come to by an assembly
of men of distinction, but specialists in different walks of life, are not
sensibly superior to the decisions that would be adopted by a gathering of
imbeciles. The truth is, they can only bring to bear in common on the work
in hand those mediocre qualities which are the birthright of every average
individual. In crowds it is stupidity and not mother-wit that is
accumulated. It is not all the world, as is so often repeated, that has
more wit than Voltaire, but assuredly Voltaire that has more wit than all
the world, if by "all the world" crowds are to be understood."
"In a crowd men always tend to the same level, and, on general questions, a
vote, recorded by forty academicians is no better than that of forty
water-carriers. [...] With regard to social problems, owing to the number of
unknown quantities they offer, men are substantially, equally ignorant."
"On occasion, the leader may be intelligent and highly educated, but the
possession of these qualities does him, as a rule, more harm than good. By
showing how complex things are, by allowing of explanation and promoting
comprehension, intelligence always renders its owner indulgent, and blunts,
in a large measure, that intensity and violence of conviction needful for
apostles. The great leaders of crowds of all ages, and those of the
Revolution in particular, have been of lamentably narrow intellect; while it
is precisely those whose intelligence has been the most restricted who have
exercised the greatest influence."
"It is terrible at times to think of the power that strong conviction
combined with extreme narrowness of mind gives a man possessing prestige.
It is none the less necessary that these conditions should be satisfied for
a man to ignore obstacles and display strength of will in a high measure.
Crowds instinctively recognise in men of energy and conviction the masters
they are always in need of."
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext96/tcrwd10.txt
Small prints thereof do apply on these quotes. (C) Project Gutenberg 1996.
Tudor Georgescu
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---