Steven Erikson Quotes

No man ruleth safely but that he is willingly ruled.

No one is able to rule unless he is also able to be ruled.

People look to me for guidance or responsibility. People put a lot of stuff on me as a symbol of something, which is nothing I opted into, but it's a responsibility I take seriously regardless.

Precedents are dangerous things; let the rein of government then be braced and held with a steady hand.

The greater the power that deigns to serve you, the more honor it demands of you.

Ma’at demands a leader.” “Yeah so I’ve heard.

We are only in charge when we are willing to let others take charge.

Self-sacrifice usually contains an unspoken demand for payment.

Those who have ruled human destinies, like planets, for thousands of years, were not handsome men.

One must require from each one the duty which each one can perform. Accepted authority rests first of all on reason.

If absolute sovereignty be not necessary in a State, how comes it to be so in a family?

Washington had performed his role to perfection. It was no enough that a leader look the part; by Washington's rules, he must know how to act it with self-command and precision.

Hee that is a master must serve (another).

Never let your inferiors do you a favor - it will be extremely costly.

Obedience alone gives the right to command.

Advisers advise, and ministers decide.

Friendship is a contract in which we render small services in expectation of big ones.

There is bound to be a certain amount of trouble running any country. If you are president, the trouble happens to you. But if you are a tyrant you can arrange things so that most of the trouble happens to other people.

I have plumbed the depth of human cowardice and I realized that there is only one way to be right, and that is to be in power.

If one meets a powerful person - Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates - ask them five questions: 'What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?' If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.

You who are in power have only the means that money produces — we who are in expectation, have those which devotion prompts.

Legitimacy is the elixir of political power.

I didn't think anyone who had to demand respect ever got it.

If people disobey, don't ask what is wrong with them, ask what's wrong with their leaders.

A word of wisdom to you, akribos, you need to learn to accept gifts. (Catera) There’s no such thing as a gift. If I were to take that from you, sooner or later you would ask a favor from me in return. Nothing in life is ever truly given without expectation. (Acheron)