Thursday, June 20, 2013

Opening paragraphs......................

He was a virtuoso of resignations.  He perfected the art of getting power by giving it away.  He tried this first, unsuccessfully, as a young colonel of militia - but then only as a gesture from hurt pride.  He was still learning that mere power to refuse is real, but limited.  The power would later be refined, as would the gestures - when he learned the creative power of surrender.
-Garry Wills, Cincinnatus:  George Washington & The Enlightenment:  Images of Power in Early America

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