May 2, 2012
Formerly, men quarreled in taverns; they have been given a distaste for this crude pleasure by being given others at a low price. Formerly, they slew one another for a mistress; in living more familiarly with women, they have found that it was not worth the effort to fight for them. Drunkenness and love set aside, there remain few important subjects for dispute. In society one now fights only over gambling. Soldiers fight only over undue favor or in order not to be forced to leave the service. In this age of enlightenment, everyone knows how to calculate to the penny the worth of his honor and his life.
Rousseau - Politics and the Arts
Posted by amin at May 2, 2012 3:44 PM