"If you come at the king, you best not miss" - I can't figure out who said this (tell me!).
People claim Machiavelli said: "It's the downside of conspiracies that they have to succeed." I don't think downside was au courant in Machiavelli's time. It's either a bogus quote, or a shabby translation.
click Old King by Georges Rouault to enlarge...
Every one of these quotes are really about the consequences of failure. I've seen this dilemma in office politics more than once. If you're going to attempt to take out the guy above you, or many levels above you, you do not want to strike to wound. When you wound your target, the consequences of failure are catastrophic.
We're often told that police are trained to shoot to kill. Or you don't shoot.
---o0o---
It's uncanny how easily a powerful person can recover from a non-lethal injury. Is this because of the support structure in place below? From the strength of positive public image?
ReplyDeleteMaybe this is the appeal of films and stories in which "little people" band together and overthrow an evil ruler. It is the fantasy of us little people to have some power once in a while.
~HDJ
You found the answer to your source question, right? (Omar Little, from The Wire by David Simon)
ReplyDeleteWhat Nick actually said is close enough: If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
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