I find that verse provides one of the cheapest and most harmless of life’s major pleasures. - L. Sprague de Camp

From all I gather, love of individuals is more important among you than love of your Community. If that's the case, how can your Communities be well run?"
"Mostly they aren't," said Bloch, relighting his pipe. "But we have a lot of fun.

It was very puzzling. Why had all this happened to her? In the old days, according to her researches, one blamed a jealous or capricious god for one’s undeserved misfortunes, but nobody had taken the gods seriously for generations. It was, thinkers agreed, a case of the mysterious operations of luck. Emotionally, however, blind chance was a poor substitute for a god when you wanted something on which to turn your resentment at the hard treatment accorded you by fate.

Certainly their intentions are peaceful, like those of the lion for the lamb. The lion wishes only to be allowed to devour the lamb in peace.