quote · Legacy record
Hence I think it is that democracies change into aristocracies, and these at length into monarchies,' people at last prefer tyranny to chaos. Equality of power is an unstable condition; men are by nature unequal; and 'he who seeks equality between unequals seeks an absurdity.' Democracy has still to solve the problem of enlisting the best energies of men while giving to all alike the choice of those, among the trained and fit, by whom they wish to be ruled.
Hence I think it is that democracies change into aristocracies, and these at length into monarchies,' people at last prefer tyranny to chaos. Equality of power is an unstable condition; men are by nature unequal; and 'he who seeks equality between unequals seeks an absurdity.' Democracy has still to solve the problem of enlisting the best energies of men while giving to all alike the choice of those, among the trained and fit, by whom they wish to be ruled.
Approximate author period: c. 1933 AD · modern
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- Author or tradition
- Will Durant
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1933 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1885 to 1981; Wikidata Q333911, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q333911 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 85224; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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