A totalitarian dictatorship cannot explain; it can only suppress. - Robert Payne

It is almost a general rule that nations do not decline gradually. Instead they fall abruptly from their greatest heights.

Historically the first philosopher to enquire deeply into the nature of corruption in society was Ibn Khaldun (1322-1406), whose wandering life was largely spent in the northern littoral of Africa at a time when kingdoms and sultanates were crumbling.

For domination has nothing whatsoever to do with good government, and power as an end in itself destroys good government.