Take but degree away, untune that string,
And, hark, what discord follows! each thing meets
In mere oppugnancy:....
Then every thing includes itself in power,
Power into will, will into appetite;
And appetite, an universal wolf,
So doubly seconded with will and power,
Must make perforce an universal prey,
And last eat up himself.
— Shakespeare, first act of Troilus and Cressida, Ulysses’ speech stating that when we remove the rule of law, the powerful will do as they please, and we all become the wolf’s prey.