A ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel.

All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities.

What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises—no matter the mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset. It's not for fighting.

Law of the Minimum: "The worst potential competition for any organism can come from its own kind. The species consumes necessities. Growth is limited by that necessity which is present in the least amount. The least favourable condition controls the rate of growth."

Good subjects must feel guilty. The guilt begins as a feeling of failure. The good autocrat provides many opportunities for failure in the populace.

The proximity of a desirable thing tempts one to overindulgence. On that path lies danger.

When you think to take determination of your fate into your own hands, that is the moment you can be crushed. Be cautious.