Capacity

The more a man can, the more he ought.

-       Louis Blanc[1]

---

[1] Louis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc (1811-1882) was a French politician and historian. An avid believer that competion is at the root of society’s ills, he coined the phrase which has been translated “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” He was involved in the Revolution of 1848, and became a member of the provisional government. But political intrigue made him a scapegoat for a failed work program, and he was forced to flee France; he was sentenced to exile in absentia. He lived in England.  In 1865 he married, to Christina Groh, and finished his 12-volume work on the French Revolution. He did not return to France until 1870. Upon his return, he was elected to the National Assembly. Blanc died in Cannes in 1882.