 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
Some fool, long ago - probably a Roman - said that to know how to command, a man must first learn how to obey. This is the opposite of the truth. The man who has learnt to obey will either have lost all personal initiative or will have become so filled with rage against the authorities that his initiative will have become destructive and cruel.
Source: "On being good" in: Mortals and Others; Bertrand Russell's American Essays, 1931-1935, v.1
More info.: https://russell-j.com/BEING-G.HTM
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People in power always want to wield power. In the words of a rambunctious boy, Russell relates the following episode.
"I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated but he replied: “The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that’s fair.” In these words he epitomized the history of the human race.
Source: Education and the Social Order, 1932, p.32 ]"