Though the general principles of statecraft have survived the rise and fall of empires, every increase in knowledge has brought about changes in the political, economic, and social structure.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.
The current state of knowledge is a moment in history, changing just as rapidly as the state of knowledge in the past has ever changed and, in many instances, more rapidly.
An important part of what the state does is preserving its history.
Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.
State formation has been a brutal project, with many hideous consequences. But the results exist, and their pernicious aspects should be overcome.
In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of state shape its institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of state.
The increase of territory and power of empires by force of arms has been the policy of all great powers, and it has always been possible to get the approval of their state religion.
Our civilization is now in the transition stage between the age of warring empires and a new age of world unity and peace.
One of the strongest and most persistent elements in national development has been that inheritance of political traditions and usages which the new settlers brought with them.
It is in war that the State really comes into its own: swelling in power, in number, in pride, in absolute dominion over the economy and the society.