"The best way to make a sort of peace, a fragile armistice to be sure, but precious all the same, with men, officers or not, is to let them bask and wallow in childish self-glorification. Thereâ€™s no such thing as intelligent vanity. Itâ€™s an instinct. And youâ€™ll never find a man who is not first and formenost vain. The role of admiring doormat is about the only one that one man is glad to tolerate in another. With these soldiers I had no need to tax my imagination."

-- Louis-Ferdinand Celine

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