Prestige Is The Shadow Of Money And

Fate Has To Do With Events In History That Are The Summary And Unintended Results Of Innumerable Decisions Of Innumerable Men.

Prestige Is The Shadow Of Money And Power. Where These Are, There It Is. Like The National Market For Soap Or Automobiles And The Enlarged Arena Of Federal Power, The National Cash-in Area For Prestige Has Grown, Slowly Being Consolidated Into A Truly National System.

The Economy - Once A Great Scatter Of Small Productive Units In Autonomous Balance, Has Become Dominated By Two Or Three Hundred Giant Corporations, Administratively And Politically Interrelated... The Political Order, Once A Decentralized Set Of Several Dozen States With A Weak Spinal Cord, Has Become A Centralized Executive Establishment Which Has Taken Up Into Itself Many Powers Previously Scattered... The Military Order, Once A Slim Establishment In A Context Of Distrust Fed By State Militia, Has Become The Largest And Most Expensive Feature Of Government.

In The World Of The Celebrity, The Hierarchy Of Publicity Has Replaced The Hierarchy Of Descent And Even Of Great Wealth.

A Society That Is In Its Higher Circles And Middle Levels Widely Believed To Be A Network Of Smart Rackets Does Not Produce Men With An Inner Moral Sense; A Society That Is Merely Expedient Does Not Produce Men Of Conscience. A Society That Narrows The Meaning Of 'success' To The Big Money And In Its Terms Condemns Failure As The Chief Vice, Raising Money To The Plane Of Absolute Value, Will Produce The Sharp Operator And The Shady Deal. Blessed Are The Cynical, For Only They Have What It Takes To Succeed.