Moreover,
he has too great a respect for the differences between men's gifts to
formulate any rigid plan which, requires for its execution a strictly
regimented humanity. He will sacrifice a little efficiency that life may
be more various, rich, and delightful.
Hence nations with cultured leaders have generally been beaten by those
whose leaders had merely Kultur. The Spartans and Macedonians had
abundant Kultur; they generally beat the Athenians, who had merely very
high culture. The Romans had Kultur, and the Hellenistic world wore
their yoke. Germany unquestionably has admirable Kultur, and none of the
mere cultured nations who are leagued against her could hope to beat her
singly.
She Does Not Desire Culture.
On the other hand, Germany has singularly little culture, has less than
she had a hundred years ago, does not apparently desire it. She has
willingly sacrificed the culture of a few leading individuals to the
Kultur of the empire as a whole. Thus it is not surprising that Germany,
as measured by the production of cultured individuals, takes a very low
place today. Not only France and England, Italy and Spain, but also
Russia and America, may fairly claim a higher degree of culture.
Pages:
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412