Every time I dip into a book by G.K. Chesterton I wonder why I didn’t return sooner. Here is a quote that caught my attention while I was reading “The Everlasting Man”.
“If there is one fact we really can prove, from the history that we really do know, it is that despotism can be a development, often a late development and very often indeed the end of societies that have been highly democratic. A despotism may almost be defined as a tired democracy. As fatigue falls on a community, the citizens are less inclined for that eternal vigilance which has truly been called the price of liberty; and they prefer to arm only a single sentinel to watch the city while they sleep.”
(emphasis mine)
True words, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, may we never relinquish the duty of the watch.
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Ethan, I love Chesterton too! The quote is so true, and never more so than today, in our own democratic republic!
Celeste