A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.
- Mark Twain
57
Academic politics are so vicious because the stakes are so small.
- Unknown, falsely attributed to Henry Kissinger
58
Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
- Henry Kissinger
59
Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.
- Don Marquis
60
England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during God save the King than of stealing from a poor box.
I can imagine a vociferous argument between professors from Sweden, England, and the United States who each insist that their country is the worst, most vile, racist country in the entire history of the world.
Sweden was very prominent during the early modern period in Europe, made several attempts at Empire, had colonies in Africa and the Caribbean, and participated in the slave trade. The fact that they were less successful than other Western European empires isn't testament to their lesser ambitions.
59. "There is no new thing under the sun."
The quotes are correct.
"We suck"
"Oh yeah, we suck worse"
"No it is we who truly suck"
The American intellectual class is racing to catch up, and has probably passed them.