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Quote by George R.R. Martin

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Fire & Blood

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George R.R. Martin

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“Our minds become slaves to those we see as having total power to control us and to cause pain to us. We are quick to give up control of ourselves to those who have the power to rule us as long as they also have the power to feed us. This is the fundamental construct of a feudal society.”

PoliticsWorkWealthPowerRichGiving UpCapitalismEconomicsSlaveryCompromiseEmploymentControlJobRulingWork HardWorkingFeudalismRuling ClassFeudal
Book:The First Dancer: How to be the first among equals and attract unlimited opportunities
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“Threats are useless unless you have previously committed the level of violence your [sic] are threatening to use. Make examples of the enemies you cannot control so those that you can will be cowed. This is the foundation of ruling.” – Extract from the personal memoirs of Dread Emperor Terribilis II”

HumorPoliticsPowerFantasyRulingPraesiDread Emperor EmpressFictional QuotesChapter 10Terribilis Ii
Book:So You Want to Be a Villain?
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“I mean to give the smallfolk peace and food and justice. If that will not suffice to win their love, let Mushroom make a progress. Or perhaps we might send a dancing bear. Someone once told me that the commons love nothing half so much as dancing bears. You may call a halt to this feast tonight as well. Send the lords home to their own keeps and give the food to the hungry. Full bellies and dancing bears shall be my policy. - Aegon III”

HappinessProgressWelfareRuling
Book:The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones
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“When people have rejected aristocracy, no longer believe that leadership is inherited at birth, no longer assume that the ruling class is endorsed by God, the argument about who gets to rule--who is the elite--is never over. For a long time, some people in Europe and North America settled on the idea that various forms of democratic, meritocratic, and economic competition are the fairest alternative to inherited or ordained power. But even in countries that were never occupied by the Red Army and never ruled by Latin American populists, democracy and free markets can produce unsatisfying outcomes, especially when badly regulated, or when nobody trusts the regulators, or when people are entering the contest from very different starting points. The losers of these competitions were always, sooner or later, going to challenge the value of the competition itself.”

LeadershipDemocracyCapitalismCompetitionElitesRulersRulingFree Markets
Book:Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism
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