We simple mortals...

This is damning. Leo Tolstoy's wife writes to him while he is off on some humanitarian mission:

"My little one is still unwell, and I am very tender and pitying. You may not especially love your own children but we simple mortals are neither able nor wish to distort our feelings or to justify our lack of love for a person by professing some love or other for the whole world."

This is a good quote for those of us concerned about political and cultural affairs to remember.