There always exists an aristocracy, regardless of nations and revolutions. If you suppress it in the nobility, it immediately transfers itself to the… - Napoleon

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There always exists an aristocracy, regardless of nations and revolutions. If you suppress it in the nobility, it immediately transfers itself to the rich and powerful families of the bourgeoisie. If you rout it out there, it rides out the flood and takes refuge in factory foremen and popular leaders. A ruler gains nothing by such shifts of the aristocracy; he restores order to everything by letting it subsist in its natural state and by reconstituting the old houses on the basis of new principles.