Uncompromising Honor (Honor Harrington, #14)

by David Weber

“Battles aren’t always—or even usually—won by killing everybody on the other side. They’re won inside the other side’s brains and wills. Given the right weapons, the right tactical situation, anyone can kill an enemy. Convincing her to yield, to do what you set out to compel her to do without killing her—that’s harder.

People at the apex felt unbridled contempt for the people who spent their lives laboring to support their “betters” in the style to which they had become accustomed. After all, if those lesser being had mattered, they’d have been the ones making the decisions, right? The fact that they weren’t was directly attributable to their inherent inferiority and general stupidity, not the inequality of opportunity.

They’re human beings, and the two things humans make are tools…and mistakes. But sometimes we get stuff right, too, and there are some really good models out there