The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of bourgeois stupidity.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Democracy aims to elevate workers but may only make them as shallow as the middle class.
- In plain terms
- Raising everyone up might just spread common foolishness instead of real improvement.
- What can you take from it?
- Equality without depth can lower standards.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is equality always good?
- What is real improvement?
Another view
It dismisses the value of broad access to power.
More from Gustave Flaubert
He is so corrupt that he would willingly pay for the pleasure of selling himself.
Permalink to quote #13 Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times.
Permalink to quote #15 Nothing is more humiliating than to see idiots succeed in enterprises we have failed in.
Permalink to quote #12
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