my rise to a very real sovereignty, A Human Strategy, Matt Berry, aphorism 279
279
For my not having been born Emperor, I have been fortunate. I simmered ... I plotted ... I changed the rules and object of the game ... and in the end found compensation in my rise to a very real sovereignty. My cunning had stumbled upon the only thing which could remain pure without being at the same time smug.
But all those around me see only a crown without jewels and studded with only the “smallest” concerns: fish for breakfast, “cerebral hygiene,” and a handful of petty habits. They laugh and propose my “coronation,” not rejecting a higher nobility as much as showing disgust for reality. Their reality, it seems, is beneath them.