Political Children

The political man is constantly forced to have very long conversations with very dull people on very dull subjects. Ninety-nine percent, if not more, of politics is administration. And as for the exciting part, the decision-making, it is inseparable from long periods of mere waiting—of an action which consists in the suspension of doing as well as of thinking.

Wise men will always be inclined to see in political life an element of childishness. The wisdom which takes a serious interest in politics must then be the wisdom of men who are, or who have remained, children—in a way.
-Strauss on Thucydides

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