{
  "type": "quote",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror/what-is-government",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror/what-is-government.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror/what-is-government.md",
  "id": "dec1e67b-1790-420e-81b9-b2f9d218a5ed",
  "slug": "what-is-government",
  "text": "What is government but an arrangement by which the many accept the authority of the few?",
  "language": "en",
  "author": {
    "name": "Barbara W. Tuchman",
    "slug": "barbara-w-tuchman",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman"
  },
  "book": {
    "title": "A Distant Mirror",
    "slug": "a-distant-mirror",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror"
  },
  "character": null,
  "chapter": null,
  "chapter_parent": null,
  "page": 455,
  "verified": false,
  "original": null,
  "other_languages": [],
  "topics": [
    {
      "name": "power",
      "slug": "power",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power"
    }
  ],
  "source": {
    "name": "Wikiquote",
    "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barbara_Tuchman#A_Distant_Mirror_(1978)",
    "license": {
      "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
      "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
    }
  },
  "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:53",
  "more_from_book": [
    {
      "id": "e70b2ed3-85c0-41ea-b99f-fe9817d48ae7",
      "slug": "whatever-solace-the",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror/whatever-solace-the",
      "text": "Whatever solace the Christian faith could give was balanced by the anxiety it generated.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 469,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "fear",
          "slug": "fear",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear"
        },
        {
          "name": "faith",
          "slug": "faith",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barbara_Tuchman#A_Distant_Mirror_(1978)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:53"
    },
    {
      "id": "e257f2ee-067e-4110-be5a-992055236705",
      "slug": "if-it-is-not",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror/if-it-is-not",
      "text": "If it is not profitable for the common good that authority should be retained, it ought to be relinquished.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 520,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "power",
          "slug": "power",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barbara_Tuchman#A_Distant_Mirror_(1978)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:53"
    },
    {
      "id": "d89be2a1-50b6-46cb-8efd-a25a91bceb59",
      "slug": "vainglory-however-no-matter",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror/vainglory-however-no-matter",
      "text": "Vainglory, however, no matter how much medieval Christianity insisted it was a sin, is a motor of mankind, no more eradicable than sex. As long as combat was desirable as the source of honor and glory, the knight had no wish to share it with the commoner, even for the sake of success.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 577,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "honour",
          "slug": "honour",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honour"
        },
        {
          "name": "vanity",
          "slug": "vanity",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/vanity"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barbara_Tuchman#A_Distant_Mirror_(1978)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:53"
    }
  ]
}