"It's been shown that, if those extra 100,000 people a year had lived to a ripe old age, they would have cost us even more in pensions and social security than they did in medical treatment. So, financially, it is unquestionably better that they continue to die at about the present rate."
文官体制和政治家斗争的故事。讽刺的是最后一章政治家的失败中有一句拉丁名言,tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis. (时代在变化,而我们随着时代的变化而变化),但是书中文官体制处处体现的是以不变应万变,根本没有考虑到历史的进程。在国家的上升期文官能保证政治家不犯系统性的决策失误,但是在衰落期也就只能保证国家不出乱子缓慢衰落而已了。虽然只是一本虚构喜剧小说,却要比现今世界还要真实。