The Arab historian Ibn Khaldun, in the fourteenth century, described the dependence of society on tax rates as follows:

At the beginning of a dynasty, when the rulers' demands are modest, taxes are low, and crafts and trade develop freely. As crafts and trade develop, a taste for luxury awakens in the rulers. As the rulers grow accustomed to luxury, they raise taxes. When taxes rise, crafts and trade begin to decline. But since the rulers' need for luxury does not diminish, they go on raising taxes. The matter ends with a new dynasty coming down from the mountains. Its demands are modest...

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

The Arab historian Ibn Khaldun, in the fourteenth century, described the dependence of society on tax rates as follows:

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s