Laudator Temporis Acti

Vladimir Nabokov, Tyrants Destroyed (Istreblenie Tiranov), tr. Dmitri and Vladimir Nabokov:

Not only have I never been fascinated by politics, but I have hardly ever read a single editorial or even a short report on a party congress. Sociological problems have never intrigued me, and to this day I cannot picture myself taking part in a conspiracy or simply sitting in a smoke-filled room among politically excited, tensely serious people, discussing methods of struggle in the light of recent developments. I don't give a hoot for the welfare of mankind...

Charles Morris, from My Way of Life, in Lyra Urbanica; or, The Social Effusions of the Celebrated Captain Charles Morris of the Late Life-Guards, vol. II (London: Richard Bentley, 1840), pp. 231-244 (at 240):

Shall I seek, in this sparring arena of Shame,
Who humbugs the best, or best plays his own game?
Must I weigh all the tricks of these jugglers—or judge
Of their shams and their shuffles, their flash and their fudge?
No, my friend!—in these conflicts so clearly is seen
The rancorous impulse of interest and spleen,
When these feuds of mean fury in print meet my eyes,
I turn the leaf over, and smother the lies.
In short, these vile tricks such sick vapours create,
I ne'er dip in the dirty foul sink of the State.

Charles Spencelayh, The Political Argument