"And all they did for the common good proved to be futile and absurd"
The majority of the people of that time paid no attention to the broad trend of the nation's affairs, and were only influenced by their private concerns. And it was these very people who played the most useful part in the history of their day.
Those who were striving to understand the general course of events, and trying by self-sacrifice and heroism to take a hand in it, were the most useless members of society; they saw everything upside down, and all they did for the common good proved to be futile and absurd...
-- Leon T
(from Craig Newmark)
Of course, most everyone who reads this will think it applies to the people they disagree with, and never consider that may it's about themselves...