the power of image

2. Vanity. 81. Imagination. Our judges are very conscious of the secret power of imagination. Their red robes, the ermine in which they swaddle themselves like furry cats, the courts where they sit, the fleur de lys-- all the august display is very necessary; if physicians did not have cassocks and mules, and doctors did not have square hats and robes four sizes too large, they would never have fooled people who cannot resist a display which looks like authentic. If the judges possessed true justice and the physicians the true art of healing, there would be no need for square hats; the majesty of their science is purely fictitious, they are obliged to deck themselves out with vain ornaments that strike the imagination which is what they are aiming at; and in this manner, in fact, they win respect. Soldiers alone do not disguise themselves because the part they play is essential: they establish themselves by force, the rest by giving themselves airs.
- Pascal, Pensees