The frivolity and boredom which unsettle the established order, the vague foreboding of something unknown, these are the heralds of approaching chang… - Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

The first remark we have to make, and which — though already presented more than once — cannot be too often repeated when the occasion seems to call for it, — is that what we call principle, aim, destiny, or the nature and idea of Spirit, is something merely general and abstract. Principle — Plan of Existence — Law — is a hidden, undeveloped essence, which as such — however true in itself — is not completely real.

The essence of the modern state is the union of the universal with the full freedom of the particular, and with the welfare of individuals.

But even regarding History as the slaughter-bench at which the happiness of peoples, the wisdom of States, and the virtue of individuals have been victimised — the question involuntarily arises — to what principle, to what final aim these enormous sacrifices have been offered.