Oh? Not quite. If a leader is too rigid during their rule, they run the risk of losing power when something unpredictable occurs.

One has to be flexible. Order and moderation - those two things are needed to maintain power. [ vidar is thoughtful as he says it. and if he sounds like he's quoting someone, that's because he is. ] Brute force is a finite resource, and people can only be under the spell of something as sweet as revolution for so long. That kind of authority only serves to deceive. It's more than complacency, it's knowing when to use power and when to hold back.