As individuals and as a nation, we now suffer from social narcissism. The beloved Echo of our ancestors, the virgin America, has been abandoned. We have fallen in love with our own image, with images of our making, which turn out to be images of ourselves. – Daniel J. Boorstin
For the past 15 years or so, British governments have tried to persuade the rest of us that the best judges of the national interest are…businessmen. This may be a ridiculous statement, but — ominously — fewer and fewer people laugh at it. – Neil Ascherson