Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1453IR // #c1453Verbatim excerpt
I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, I see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out.

— Source: A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)

[Use when]

A newly promoted boss plans a public bloodbath to fix company culture. Point out that the survivors will spend years fighting each other in fear.

[Why it matters]

Condemned witnesses see what angry mobs miss: violence never cleans a room fast. Instead, terror poisons the air for decades after the tyrants die. Two generations pay in grief before the fever finally burns out.

Filed under situations:When the team is looking to you to lead

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