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| Max Weber: 1864-1920 |
The following quote is the concluding paragraph of Max Weber's lecture (and later essay), “Politics as a Vocation,” first delivered in Munich in 1918 as fighting in the Great War had drawn to a close. This essay is one of the most important and stimulating reflections on political life that I know of. I return to it on occasion for perspective. The entire essay is less than 30 pages. I commend it to you.
Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards. It takes both passion and perspective. Certainly all historical experience confirms the truth --that man would not have attained the possible unless time and again he had reached out for the impossible. But to do that a man must be a leader, and not only a leader but a hero as well, in a very sober sense of the word. And even those who are neither leaders nor heroesmust arm themselves with that steadfastness of heart which can brave even the crumbling of all hopes. This is necessary right now, or else men will not be able to attain even that which is possible today. Only he has the calling for politics who is sure that he shall not crumble when the world from his point of view is too stupid or too base for what he wants to offer. Only he who in the face of all this can say 'In spite of all!' has the calling for politics.
