Clerambault // The Story of an Independent Spirit During the War — Romain Rolland

" ...]judgment before general opinion. The universal development of democracies, vitiated by a fossilized survival, the outrageous "reason of State," has led the mind of Europe to hold as an article of faith that there can be no higher ideal than to serve the community. This community is then defined as the State. I venture to say that he who makes himself the servant of a blind or blinded nation, -and most of the states are in this condition at the present day, -does not truly serve it but lowers both it and himself; for in general a few men, incapable of understanding the complexities of the ...]."