Out of the crooked timber of man, no straight thing was ever made.  -Immanuel Kant

 

A Welsh slave was once given a direct order by his captor and notorious butcher of men, sultan Moulay Ismail of Morocco.  He refused it and lived.

 

This is the problem of despotism. It’s why despotism, or even just authoritarianism, is all-powerful and brittle at the same time. Despotism creates the circumstances of its own undermining. The information gets worse. The sycophants get greater in number. The corrective mechanisms become fewer. And the mistakes become much more consequential.  –Stephen Kotkin

 

If the history of slavery ought to teach us anything, it is that human beings cannot be trusted with unbridled power over other human beings - no matter what color or creed any of them are.  –Thomas Sowell