statesman

Of all public figures and benefactors of mankind, no one is loved by history more than the literary patron. Napoleon was just a general of forgotten battles compared with the queen who paid for Shakespeare's meals and beer in the tavern. The statesman who in his time freed the slaves, even he has a few enemies in posterity, whereas the literary patron has none. We thank Gaius Maecenas for the nobility of soul we attribute to Virgil; but he isn__ blamed for the selfishness and egocentricity that the poet possessed. The patron creates 'literature through altruism,' something not even the greatest genius can do with a pen.

I would rather contend with an honest asshole than a duplicitous diplomat.

Now and then I am asked as to __hat books a statesman should read,_ and my answer is, poetry and novels _ including short stories under the head of novels.

And envy, envious of a time when the poet, the mystic, the scientist and the statesman were nobler than the merchant.

State first, subject second, statesman last.