Neither Commands Nor Obeys

The man
Of virtuous soul commands not nor obeys.
Power like a desolating pestilence
Pollutes whate’er it touches; and obedience,
Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth,
Makes slaves of men, and of the human frame
A mechanized automaton.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab, Canto III (1813)

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3:46 pm on March 15, 2012