"Mediocrity in politics is not to be despised. Greatness is not needed"
About this Quote
A provocation disguised as reassurance, Enzensberger’s line flatters the weary citizen: relax, the age of “great men” is overrated. But it’s also a needle aimed at the romantic addiction to political grandeur. “Mediocrity” arrives as a dirty word and leaves as a democratic virtue - the steady, unglamorous competence that keeps institutions from turning into theaters for ego. The subtext is less “settle for less” than “stop begging for saviors.”
Enzensberger, a German writer formed in the long shadow of the 20th century, knows what happens when politics starts craving “greatness.” In Germany, the word can’t be innocent; it echoes with catastrophic ambition. So the sentence reads like a prophylactic against charisma: a reminder that democracy is built to distribute power, not concentrate it in a single incandescent personality. Greatness, in this view, is often a euphemism for exceptional permission - the leader who claims the right to bypass procedure because history “demands” it.
The quote works because it reverses our cultural hierarchy. We usually treat mediocrity as moral failure and greatness as moral promise. Enzensberger flips that, implying that ordinary, predictable governance is the real luxury. “Not needed” isn’t resignation; it’s boundary-setting. Politics shouldn’t be the place where people chase transcendence. It’s where we arrange trash pickup, rights, budgets, and restraints - the dull architecture that prevents catastrophe. The bite is that the moment you start wanting greatness, you’re already halfway to excusing something worse.
Enzensberger, a German writer formed in the long shadow of the 20th century, knows what happens when politics starts craving “greatness.” In Germany, the word can’t be innocent; it echoes with catastrophic ambition. So the sentence reads like a prophylactic against charisma: a reminder that democracy is built to distribute power, not concentrate it in a single incandescent personality. Greatness, in this view, is often a euphemism for exceptional permission - the leader who claims the right to bypass procedure because history “demands” it.
The quote works because it reverses our cultural hierarchy. We usually treat mediocrity as moral failure and greatness as moral promise. Enzensberger flips that, implying that ordinary, predictable governance is the real luxury. “Not needed” isn’t resignation; it’s boundary-setting. Politics shouldn’t be the place where people chase transcendence. It’s where we arrange trash pickup, rights, budgets, and restraints - the dull architecture that prevents catastrophe. The bite is that the moment you start wanting greatness, you’re already halfway to excusing something worse.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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