The nature of peoples is first crude, then severe, then benign, then delicate, finally dissolute.
Giambattista VicoGovernments must be conformable to the nature of the governed; governments are even a result of that nature.
Giambattista VicoMetaphysics abstracts the mind from the senses, and the poetic faculty must submerge the whole mind in the senses. Metaphysics soars up to universals, and the poetic faculty must plunge deep into particulars.
Giambattista Vico