On Tue, 23 Mar 2010, c b wrote:
> CB: The American national philosophy is pragmatism. Or as they say ,
> "Everybody loves a winner."
Everybody is right. This isn't an American thing. It's not like other countries love losers. It's as old as politics. The classical word for success was having virtue (virtus or arete). But it meant the same thing, a combination of skill, character and luck -- and crucially the last, a kind of charismatic luck, a mysterious ability to compel Fortune.
Michael