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Kindle Notes & Highlights
“I’m not too old to fight, just too old to want to,”
“That’s the point. Dictatorships need just a few ardent supporters. Democracies need everyone. That’s harder to do.”
Punishing an innocent man is as effective as punishing a guilty one when the goal is scaring people to keep them in line.”
In endurance sports, however, like mountain climbing, something else kicks in besides sheer physicality: mental toughness. This grew throughout a man’s life. The combination of slowly declining strength and increasing grit peaked around the mid-thirties.
To ordinary people, it just didn’t seem possible that their political leaders could be as stupid, self-serving, or greedy as their actions made them look. There had to be some explanation behind the story, otherwise people would have to admit that their fate was in the hands of stupid, self-serving, greedy people.
Natalya smiled. It’s what you did with fear when you couldn’t show weakness.
A major part of true power was perceived power.
