When one considers that, after thirty or forty centuries of work and genius, the end result is that three hundred million men spread all over the globe have been delivered up to thirty despots, most of them ignorant imbeciles, each of whom is managed by three or four villains (sometimes stupid ones), what should one think of humanity, and what can one expect of it in future?
13 June 2012
What Should One Think of Humanity?
Sébastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort, Oeuvres complètes de Chamfort, Vol. I (Paris: Chaumerot Jeune, 1824), p. 435. My own translation:
