Gertrude Stein Quotes
There is no reason why a king should be rich or a rich man should be a king, no reason at all.
Stein, Gertrude. Everybody's Autobiography. Random House, 1937, p. 115.
John Adams was more concerned about the titles and forms of address of the President and Vice President than most of the Founding Fathers. Having spent time in London and Paris representing the nation, he was concerned about the dignity and symbolism of office. McCullough added this insight.
One of the reasons that Alexander was able to conquer and control so much of the world at the time was his concept of decentralization of leadership, management, and delegation of authority. This was very unusual and not appreciated by other rulers, including his own parents. He also did not seek personal riches or creature comforts and did not spend much time lusting after women despite the fact that his mother frequently sent them to him.
She was observing that while some autocrats try to change societies like Catherine the Great, and Kamal Attaturk, many try to maintain the traditional status quo like Franco of Spain and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany
See {627027} for an earlier expression of this point.
Gertrude Stein was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and made France her home for the remainder of her life. She hosted a Paris salon, where the leading figures of modernism in literature and art, such as Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson and Henri Matisse, would meet.
