"“But it’s been quiet under Cleon. And we’ve had fifty years of peace.” “Yes, but soldiers who are well-paid would resent having that pay reduced just because there is peace. Admirals resist mothballing ships and having themselves reduced in rank simply because there is less for them to do. So the credits still go—unproductively—to the armed forces and vital areas of the social good are allowed to deteriorate. That’s what I call decay. Don’t you?”"
Isaac Asimov

January 1, 1970

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Original Language: English

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Chapter 14 (p. 71)

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov