The Leopard

by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

“But you’re not reasoning, my dear Fabrizio,” Màlvica would reply, “one particular sovereign may not be up to it, yet the idea of monarchy is still the same; it is not connected with personalities.” That was true, too; but kings who personify an idea should not, cannot, fall below a certain level for generations; if they do, my dear brother-in-law, the idea suffers too.

‘They are coming to teach us good manners!’ I replied in English. ‘But they won’t succeed, because we are gods.’ “I don’t think they understood, but they laughed and went off. That is my answer to you too, my dear Chevalley; the Sicilians never want to improve for the simple reason that they think themselves perfect; their vanity is stronger than their misery;