Individualities may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- People can gather, but only formal structures and systems can unify them into a nation.
- In plain terms
- Individuals make communities, but institutions build nations.
- What can you take from it?
- Institutions unite people into nations.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What institutions hold your society together?
- Can a nation exist without formal institutions?
Another view
Informal social bonds can sometimes sustain nations better than formal rules.
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Ignorance never settles a question.
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