Gradually, by selective breeding, the congenital differences between rulers_x000D_ and ruled will increase until they become almost different species. A revolt_x000D_ of the plebs would become as unthinkable as an organized insurrection of_x000D_ sheep against the practice of eating mutton.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that social hierarchies can be reinforced to the point where the governed accept their fate as natural.
In this quote, Bertrand Russell warns about the dangers of selective breeding in societies, positing that the differences between rulers and the ruled can become so pronounced that they evolve into distinct species in terms of social structure and mentality. The metaphor of sheep accepting their fate illustrates how the oppressed may become resigned to their subjugation, making any form of rebellion seem inconceivable.
In practice
In a political lecture discussing social hierarchies, this quote can illustrate the dangers of complacency in the face of exploitation.
St. Paul introduced an entirely novel view of marriage, that it existed primarily to prevent the sin of fornication. It is just as if one were to maintain that the sole reason for baking bread is to prevent people from stealing cake.
Freedom comes only to those who no longer ask of life that it shall yield them any of those personal goods that are subject to the mutations of time.
Of these austerer virtues the love of truth is the chief, and in mathematics, more than elsewhere, the love of truth may find encouragement for waning faith. Every great study is not only an end in itself, but also a means of creating and sustaining a lofty habit of mind; and this purpose should be kept always in view throughout the teaching and learning of mathematics.
At all times, except when a monarch could enforce his will, war has been facilitated by the fact that vigorous males, confident of victory, enjoyed it, while their females admired them for their prowess.
Moreover, the attitude that one ought to believe such and such a proposition, independently of the question whether there is evidence in its favor, is an attitude which produces hostility to evidence and causes us to close our minds to every fact that does not suit our prejudices.
Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.
. . . [The Judicial Branch] may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments.
Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don't pretend to understand.
Limited by the world, which I oppose, jagged by it, I shall be all the more handsome and sparkling as the angles which wound me and give me shape are more acute and the jagging more cruel.
I remember it was with extreme difficulty that I could bring my master to understand the meaning of the word opinion, or how a point could be disputable; because reason taught us to affirm or deny only where we are certain; and beyond our knowledge we cannot do either.
I resolutely believe that respect for diversity is a fundamental pillar in the eradication of racism, xenophobia and intolerance. There is no excuse for evading the responsibility of finding the most suitable path toward the elimination of any expression of discrimination against indigenous peoples.
That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of Nations is as shocking as it is true.
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