To put on the garment of legitimacy is the first aim of every coup. - Barbara W. Tuchman

Against men habituated to lawless force, violent punishment failed to bring the violence under control.

Whatever solace the Christian faith could give was balanced by the anxiety it generated.

His (Deschamps’) complaint of court life was the same as is made of government at the top in any age: it was composed of hypocrisy, flattery, lying, paying and betraying; it was where calumny and cupidity reigned, common sense lacked, truth dared not appear, and where to survive one had to be deaf, blind, and dumb.