Quotes from Richard W. Sonnenfeldt

The lessons of history are always forgotten unless permanent institutions are created to prevent a repetition.

Dictators have no peers; only sycophants to do their bidding. That is how it was in Nazi Germany. And so it is wherever autocrats rule in government or in business. Dictators and braggarts cause their own demise, because when they finally are in extremis, they have only their lackeys to call on, while their adversaries attract the best of men.

To serve a dictator, one must be gullible and ambitious and have no scruples. One must not mind being insulted by a Führer or else have an intellect so deficient as not to notice insults. Who else would fawningly and forever feed the vanity of a man who never listened but only spouted inane theories of conquest, racism, and economic nonsense, no matter how hypnotic his delivery?

Himmler's pimply teenage daughter was incredulous when reading about her father's career, which was now being serialized in newly appearing German-language papers. When I tried to interview her, she ran crying from the room. I was surprised that Himmler's daughter had feelings!