"Every form of #government tends to perish by excess of its basic principle. #Aristocracy ruins itself by limiting too narrowly the circle within which #power is confined; #oligarchy ruins itself by the incautious scramble for immediate #wealth. In either case the end is #revolution. When revolution comes it may seem to arise from little causes and petty whims; but though it may spring from slight occasions it is the precipitate result of grave and accumulated wrongs; when a body is weakened by neglected ills, the merest exposure may bring serious disease. "Then #democracy comes: the poor overcome their opponents, slaughtering some and banishing the rest; and give to the people an equal share of #freedom and #power." But even democracy ruins itself by excess - of democracy. Its basic principle is the equal right of all to hold office and determine public #policy. This is at first glance a delightful arrangement; it becomes disastrous because the people are not properly equipped by education to select the best rulers and the wisest courses. "As to the people they have no understanding, and only repeat what their rulers are pleased to tell them"; to get a #doctrine accepted or rejected it is only necessary to have it praised or ridiculed in a popular play. Mob-rule is a rough sea for the ship of state to ride; every wind of oratory stirs up the waters and deflects the course. The upshot of such a democracy is #tyranny or autocracy; the crowd so loves flattery, it is so "hungry for honey," that at last the wiliest and most unscrupulous flatterer, calling himself the "protector of the people" rises to supreme power." Will Durant speaking words of wisdom.