The thoughts of Galileo and Newton were of supreme interest, but the habits of mankind between the dates 1690 and 1750 were very slightly altered. The total effect was that fortunate people had a new theme of intellectual enjoyment. Indeed, within this period the introduction of cheap spirits, such as gin, probably did more harm to English life than all the noble thoughts of the Royal Society did good. Today the notion of a master race is being revived, and most of us agree that it means the moral degradation of mankind. The enjoyment of power is fatal to the subtleties of life.
Ruling classes degenerate by reason of their lazy indulgence in obvious gratifications.
It is the nemesis of the reign of force, of the worship of power, that the ideals of the semidivine rulers centre upon some variant of Solomon's magnificent harem of three hundred wives and seven hundred concubines. The variation may be toward decency, but it is equally decadent. Indeed, war adds to the brutality that frustrates creation. The protection of war should be the last resort in the slow progress of mankind towards its far-off ideals. Desire for money will produce hard-fistedness and not enterprise.