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Command is a mountain top. The air breathed there is different, and the perspectives seen there are different, from those of the valley of obedience. The passion for order and the genius of construction, which are part of man’s natural endowment, get full play there. The man who has grown great sees from the top of his tower what he can make, if he so wills, of the swarming masses below him.

— Bertrand de Jouvenel On Power: Its Nature and the History of Its Growth (1949)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Cf. also Spengler's "Faustian Man"

More quotes by Bertrand de Jouvenel

A people among whom custom is altogether sovereign endures the despotism of the dead.

On Power: Its Nature and the History of Its Growth (1949)

The leveling process need find no place in Power's programme: it is embedded in its destiny.

On Power: Its Nature and the History of Its Growth (1949)

It is not hard to discover behind this juridical concept a metaphysical one.

On Power: Its Nature and the History of Its Growth (1949)

"Monarchy and feudal aristocracy are two lions born on the same day."

On Power: Its Nature and the History of Its Growth (1949)

Resistance is, therefore, the business of aristocracies.

On Power: Its Nature and the History of Its Growth (1949)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Bertrand de Jouvenel (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.