“It is easier to confront a threat as a mass, a group, not individuals who must be evaluated one by one...”

“By operating without a leader the scout bees of a swarm neatly avoid one of the greatest threats to good decision making by groups: a domineering leader. Such an individual reduces a group's collective power to uncover a diverse set of possible solutions to a problem, to critically appraise these possibilities, and to winnow out all but the best one.”

“In proportion as the mass of citizens who possess political rights increases, and the number of elected ruler’s increases, the actual power is concentrated and becomes the monopoly of a smaller and smaller group of individuals.”

“Every individual is a meeting ground for many different allegiances, and sometimes these loyalties conflict with one another and confront the person who harbors them with difficult choices”

“It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for the salvation of the masses.”

“It was just one more pre­dictable mass sui­cide in a world filled with splin­ter groups that limp along un­til they’re con­front­ed.”