{
  "type": "quote",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-dragon-in-the-sword/evil-flourishes-best",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-dragon-in-the-sword/evil-flourishes-best.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-dragon-in-the-sword/evil-flourishes-best.md",
  "id": "69530265-64d7-411a-a87b-1f248bad5173",
  "slug": "evil-flourishes-best",
  "text": "“Evil flourishes best in disguise,” said Otto grimly. His companions nodded in assent.\n\n“And the best disguise is simple” said the youth, Federit Shaus. “Honest patriotism. Joyful idealism.”\n\n“You’re a cynic, lad,” von Bek smiled at him. “But sadly my own experience would support your view. Show me a man who cries ‘my country right or wrong’, and I’ll show you one who’d cheerfully murder half his own nation in the name of patriotism.”",
  "language": "en",
  "author": {
    "name": "Michael Moorcock",
    "slug": "michael-moorcock",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock"
  },
  "book": {
    "title": "The Dragon in the Sword",
    "slug": "the-dragon-in-the-sword",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-dragon-in-the-sword"
  },
  "character": null,
  "chapter": null,
  "chapter_parent": null,
  "page": 550,
  "verified": false,
  "original": null,
  "other_languages": [],
  "topics": [
    {
      "name": "evil",
      "slug": "evil",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil"
    },
    {
      "name": "appearances",
      "slug": "appearances",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances"
    },
    {
      "name": "patriotism",
      "slug": "patriotism",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/patriotism"
    }
  ],
  "source": {
    "name": "Wikiquote",
    "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Dragon_in_the_Sword_(1986)",
    "license": {
      "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
      "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
    }
  },
  "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:39",
  "more_from_book": [
    {
      "id": "fc670d90-12fb-41f9-8b3d-a0030b70f988",
      "slug": "your-imagination-is-notoriously",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-dragon-in-the-sword/your-imagination-is-notoriously",
      "text": "Your imagination is notoriously poor. Not everyone holds identical ambitions to your own!",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 560,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "ambition",
          "slug": "ambition",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ambition"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Dragon_in_the_Sword_(1986)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:39"
    },
    {
      "id": "ed8d78f9-7eda-4b4e-af01-20169bc3035b",
      "slug": "indeed-to-be-a-hero",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-dragon-in-the-sword/indeed-to-be-a-hero",
      "text": "Indeed, to be a hero, forever at war, is to be in some ways always a child. The true challenge comes in making sense of one’s life, of imbuing it with purpose based on one’s own principles.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 687,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "meaning of life",
          "slug": "meaning-of-life",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Dragon_in_the_Sword_(1986)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:39"
    },
    {
      "id": "e939a69b-a621-477d-8249-6f97980a616e",
      "slug": "for-years-my-lady",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-dragon-in-the-sword/for-years-my-lady",
      "text": "“For years my lady made her plans. And when the time came to put them into action, how wonderfully she was able to achieve her ambitions.”\n\n“Only because few rational people can ever begin to understand such a lust for power,” said von Bek feelingly. “There is nothing more puerile than the mind of a tyrant.”",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 629,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "power",
          "slug": "power",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power"
        },
        {
          "name": "tyranny",
          "slug": "tyranny",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Dragon_in_the_Sword_(1986)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:39"
    }
  ]
}
