Quote of Mo': DG again

I think this one was expressly made for my fascination with Fanon and Mobutu... well, Mobutu didn't really have a cause higher than his own ego, but still. Antoine Parmentier was a 18th century French agronomist and pharmacist whose achievements include popularizing the potato as a European staple.

"One can observe, indeed, that the leaders of men - politicians, prophets, soldiers - who obtained more than others, identified themselves with high-minded ideas and drew from them great movements. Followed in life by virtue of suggestions of greatness, rather than interest, their fame is later measured less by their utility than the vastness of their work. Whereas, sometimes, reason condemns them, sentiment glorifies them. Napoleon, in the rankings of great men, is always ahead of Parmentier. To the point that certain individuals who were only, essentially, pushed to revolt and excess, keep nonetheless in front of posterity like a dark glory when their crimes were comitted in the name of some higher aspiration." - De Gaulle, The Edge of the Sword