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Full Idea
Opportunists have saved nations; heroes have ruined them.
Gist of Idea
Opportunists can save a nation, and heroes can ruin it
Source
E.M. Cioran (A Short History of Decay [1949], 1 'Defense')
Book Ref
Cioran,E.M.: 'A Short History of Decay', ed/tr. Howard,Richard [Penguin 2010], p.93
A Reaction
Siegfried smashes the staff of Wotan. Napoleon looks like a hero, but he increasingly looks like the single most disastrous figure ever to have emerged in Europe. It took the Germans till 1940 to avenge what he did.
| 11388 | Let there be one ruler [Homer] |
| 6320 | The best rulers are invisible, the next admired, the next feared, and the worst are exploited [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 19964 | The natural power of a father suggests rule by one person, but that authority can be spread [Montesquieu] |
| 21089 | Monarchs have the highest power; autocrats have complete power [Kant] |
| 20936 | Caesarism emerges when two forces in society are paralysed in conflict [Gramsci] |
| 19627 | Opportunists can save a nation, and heroes can ruin it [Cioran] |