March 30, 2010
Tolstoy's take on the powerful.
I have been reading a rather wonderful book about Leo Tolstoy, It is one of the books available in the 'Conversations with' series by our very own Mr Parke.
Now following on from Marzena's blog about being inspired by a politician, I was interested and thought I would share, Tolstoy's take on those in power.
'The misery of nations is caused not by particular persons, but by the particular social order under which the people are so tied up together, that they find themselves all in the power of a few men; or more often, in the power of one single man: a man so perverted by his unnatural position as arbiter of the fate and lives of millions, that he is always in an unhealthy state, and always suffers more or less from a mania of self-aggrandizement, which only his exceptional position conceals from general notice.'
I'm not sure why but Tony Blair sprang to my mind.
Posted by Shelliz at March 30, 2010 05:58 PM