Not only was Ivan an idiot, but he generated a telepathic damping field that turned people nearby into idiots, too. He would point this out to Barrayaran Intelligence, who would make of his cousin the newest weapon in their arsenal — if

Because I was an idiot.

Because they were idiots!

He had an ability to surprise, as does every major idiot, and, of course, to irritate, all in the space of a single second.

One of Ivan the Terrible's mistakes was to overlook the five great feudal families. If he had annihilated those five families, there would definitely have been no Time of Troubles. But Ivan the Terrible would execute someone and then spend a long time repenting and praying. God got in his way in this matter. He ought to have been still more decisive!

My theory is that we are all idiots. The people who don’t think they’re idiots — they’re the ones that are dangerous.

“Anyway, he thinks we’re lying. But we’re not. Also, your people are idiots.”
“Yes. I know. But they’re my idiots.

My God what an idiot.

Jorma Kariluoto had paid his dues into the common pot of human idiocy.

Saint Peter and Saint John were idiots simply because they were laymen. They had no qualifications and were therefore their own men, rather than belonging to some professional class. If they had spoken their own language it would have been an idiom, and if they had been eccentrics with their own way of doing things (which they undoubtedly were) they would have been idiosyncratic.

Stupid people are dangerous.

Thinking in isolation and with pride ends in being an idiot.

The next time someone pesters you with unneeded advice, gently remind him of the fate of the monk whom Ivan the Terrible put to death for delivering uninvited (and moralizing) advice. It works as a short-term cure.

Faults of great people are idiots' consolation.