So I Should Say That Civilizations Begin

Underneath All Civilization, Ancient Or Modern, Moved And Still Moves A Sea Of Magic, Superstition, And Sorcery. Perhaps They Will Remain When The Works Of Our Reason Have Passed Away.

History Is Mostly Guessing; The Rest Is Prejudice.

The Great Snare Of Thought Is Uncritical Acceptance Of Irrational Assumptions.

The Islamic Conquest Of India Is Probably The Bloodiest Story In History. It Is A Discouraging Tale, For Its Evident Moral Is That Civilization Is A Precious Good, Whose Delicate Complex Of Order And Freedom, Culture And Peace, Can At Any Moment Be Overthrown By Barbarians Invading From Without Or Multiplying Within.

An Emperor Knows How To Govern When Poets Are Free To Make Verses, People To Act Plays, Historians To Tell The Truth, Ministers To Give Advice, The Poor To Grumble At Taxes, Students To Learn Lessons Aloud, Workmen To Praise Their Skill And Seek Work, People To Speak Of Anything, And Old Men To Find Fault With Everything.