Authority is a solvent of humanity: look at any husband, any father of a family,and note the absorption of the person by the persona, the individual by the role. Then multiply the family, and the authority, by some hundreds and see the effect upon a sea-captain, to say nothing of an absolute monarch.Surely man in general is born to be oppressed or solitary, if he is to be fully human; unless it so happens that he is immune to the poison.
Patrick O'BrianFor very strangely his officers looked upon Jack Aubrey as a moral figure, in spite of all proofs of the contrary...
Patrick O'BrianIt is a great while since I felt the grind of bone under my saw,' he added, smiling with anticipation.
Patrick O'Brian