Give as few orders as possible," his father had told him once long ago. "Once you've given orders on a subject, you must always give orders on that subject.

You must learn to rule. It's something none of your ancestors learned.

He uses the nice old words so rich in tradition to be sure I know he means it.

Delay is as dangerous as the wrong answer.

Any man who retreats into a cave which has only one opening deserves to die.

But oh, the perils of leadership in a species so anxious to be told what to do. How little they knew of what they created by their demands. Leaders made mistakes. And those mistakes, amplified by the numbers who followed without questioning, moved inevitably toward great disasters.