--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And the propensity of weak and empty…" description: "\"And the propensity of weak and empty people to follow a leader into the darkness from which there is no return is still flourishing, as ever.\" — Mary M..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fb/mary-mcgrory-28645_darkness_and-the-propensity-of-weak-and-empty-peo_1003215.jpg" --- # And the propensity of weak and empty people to follow a… ![“And the propensity of weak and empty people to follow a leader into the darkness from which there is no return is still flourishing, as ever.” quote by Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fb/mary-mcgrory-28645_darkness_and-the-propensity-of-weak-and-empty-peo_1003215.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fb/mary-mcgrory-28645_darkness_and-the-propensity-of-weak-and-empty-peo_1003215.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fb/mary-mcgrory-28645_darkness_and-the-propensity-of-weak-and-empty-peo_1003215.jpg) > “And the propensity of weak and empty people to follow a leader into the darkness from which there is no return is still flourishing, as ever.” [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Blind allegiance to charismatic leaders can lead followers into irreversible ruin. **In simple terms:** Following a leader into danger can trap people forever. Key Takeaway Beware of leaders who promise darkness. Themes political manipulation blind loyalty dangerous charisma Mood cautious concerned Type warning critical When to use this quote - political rallies - cult recruitment - social media echo chambers Key Concepts authoritarianism psychology of conformity Questions to Reflect On - What signs indicate a leader is leading toward harm? - How can individuals maintain critical thinking in group settings? A Different Perspective Leaders may also inspire positive change, not only darkness. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Darkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) [Flourishing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flourishing/) [Leader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leader/) [Leadership](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leadership/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Weak people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/weak-people/) [Women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/women/) ## Related quotes > [“As Grandfather used to say, 'In a crowd, everyone plays follow-the leader, even when they don't know who's leading.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruskin-bond/as-grandfather-used-to-say-in-a-crowd-everyone-plays-follow-the/) [Ruskin Bond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruskin-bond/) > [“It is part of a follow-my-leader game of second-best we have all been playing . . . it isn't a very good game; the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dodie-smith/it-is-part-of-a-follow-my-leader-game-of-second-best-we-have-all-been/) [Dodie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dodie-smith/) > [Followers follow their leader and the leader follows their thinking and feelings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tasneem-hameed/followers-follow-their-leader-and-the-leader-follows-their-thinking/) [Tasneem Hameed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tasneem-hameed/) > [There goes my people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/there-goes-my-people-i-must-follow-them-for-i-am-their-leader/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I must follow them. I am their leader.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abbott-lawrence-lowell/i-must-follow-them-i-am-their-leader/) [Abbott Lawrence Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abbott-lawrence-lowell/) > [It is astonishing how foolish humans can be in groups, especially when they follow their leader without question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-herbert/it-is-astonishing-how-foolish-humans-can-be-in-groups-especially-when/) [Brian Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-herbert/) > [People, like sheep, tend to follow a leader - occasionally in the right direction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-chase/people-like-sheep-tend-to-follow-a-leader-occasionally-in-the-right/) [Alexander Chase](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-chase/) > [A leader is not someone who says: Follow me…A leader is someone who says: I'll go first.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neale-donald-walsch/a-leader-is-not-someone-who-says-follow-me-a-leader-is-someone-who/) [Neale Donald Walsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neale-donald-walsch/) > [The crowd will follow a leader who marches twenty paces ahead of them, but if he is a thousand paces ahead of them, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-brandes/the-crowd-will-follow-a-leader-who-marches-twenty-paces-ahead-of-them/) [Georg Brandes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-brandes/) > [Don't blindly follow any leader.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-young/don-t-blindly-follow-any-leader/) [Marguerite Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-young/) > [How can you motivate yourself to continue to follow a leader when he appears to be going around in circles?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/how-can-you-motivate-yourself-to-continue-to-follow-a-leader-when-he/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [People don't follow a leader but follow a vision - a vision of what the future looks like and how their work helps them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mindy-grossman/people-don-t-follow-a-leader-but-follow-a-vision-a-vision-of-what-the/) [Mindy Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mindy-grossman/) > [The frustrated follow a leader less because of their faith that he is leading them to a promised land than because of their immediate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/the-frustrated-follow-a-leader-less-because-of-their-faith-that-he-is/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [“People will follow someone as a leader, who has vision and purpose; often that leader doesn’t wear a title.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-ramsay/people-will-follow-someone-as-a-leader-who-has-vision-and-purpose/) [Beth Ramsay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-ramsay/) > [“Power is not a convincing reason for people to follow a leader of their own volition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-h-ashworth/power-is-not-a-convincing-reason-for-people-to-follow-a-leader-of/) Kenneth H. Ashworth ## More by Mary McGrory > [Baseball is what we were, and football is what we have become.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/baseball-is-what-we-were-and-football-is-what-we-have-become/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [Baseball has a special place in our hearts. It is the game that shows us as we would like to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/baseball-has-a-special-place-in-our-hearts-it-is-the-game-that-shows/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [ \[On Italy:\] ... the country where kindness to strangers is a religion, you can't turn your head without seeing something beautiful, and you can't… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/on-italy-the-country-where-kindness-to-strangers-is-a-religion-you/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [ \[On George H.W. Bush:\] A man who wishes to lead the Western world should be able to find the right words, string them together… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/on-george-h-w-bush-a-man-who-wishes-to-lead-the-western-world-should/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [Dogs, bless them, operate on the premise that human beings are fragile and require incessant applications of affection and reassurance. The random lick of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/dogs-bless-them-operate-on-the-premise-that-human-beings-are-fragile/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [Haldeman is the only man in America in this generation who let his hair grow for a courtroom appearance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/haldeman-is-the-only-man-in-america-in-this-generation-who-let-his/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [You need the will to disarm the civilian population. If we can do it in Somalia, we can do it here.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/you-need-the-will-to-disarm-the-civilian-population-if-we-can-do-it/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [Anyone who has undergone home repair lately knows that your everyday artisan uses language so loosely and makes false promises so glibly as to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/anyone-who-has-undergone-home-repair-lately-knows-that-your-everyday/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [Human sacrifice is much in vogue right now. The Republican right thinks that people who get on its nerves, especially women, should be sent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/human-sacrifice-is-much-in-vogue-right-now-the-republican-right/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [Appliances have idiosyncracies, just like us. Unfortunately they have picked up our less attractive traits - they are proud, spiteful, and unforgiving.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/appliances-have-idiosyncracies-just-like-us-unfortunately-they-have/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [ \[On men:\] On their best days, the best of them are eight years old. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/on-men-on-their-best-days-the-best-of-them-are-eight-years-old/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [ \[On Senator Everett Dirksen:\] His great enemy was boredom and he won every engagement. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/on-senator-everett-dirksen-his-great-enemy-was-boredom-and-he-won/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [ \[On George H.W. Bush vs. Michael Dukakis:\] Americans now know they can vote for a man who can't express his thoughts or a man… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/on-george-h-w-bush-vs-michael-dukakis-americans-now-know-they-can/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [If there is a secret to writing, I haven’t found it yet. All I know is you need to sit down, clear your mind,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/if-there-is-a-secret-to-writing-i-haven-t-found-it-yet-all-i-know-is/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) > [I am hoping for better times. That's how you know us hapless gardeners - by our dirty fingernails and our absurd, unquenchable optimism about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/i-am-hoping-for-better-times-that-s-how-you-know-us-hapless-gardeners/) [Mary McGrory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) [Explore all 19 Mary McGrory quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/) ## More Darkness quotes > [“Narrative cannot sustain formlessness any more than light can sustain darkness - it is the antithesis of formlessness, and so it can never truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/narrative-cannot-sustain-formlessness-any-more-than-light-can-sustain/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“Wait here, wait here!" he cried and jumped up and began to run for help toward a cluster of lights he saw in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/wait-here-wait-here-he-cried-and-jumped-up-and-began-to-run-for-help/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Strange - is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/strange-is-it-not-that-of-the-myriads-who-before-us-passed-the-door/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [When you're scared - and I mean really scared, not just hearing a noise in the night, or standing toe to toe with someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-gordon-smith/when-you-re-scared-and-i-mean-really-scared-not-just-hearing-a-noise/) [Alexander Gordon Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-gordon-smith/) > [Clear moments are so short. There is much more darkness. More ocean than terra firma. More shadow than form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-zagajewski/clear-moments-are-so-short-there-is-much-more-darkness-more-ocean/) [Adam Zagajewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-zagajewski/) > [I even see the cinema itself as a woman, with its alternation of light and darkness, of appearing and disappearing images](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-fellini/i-even-see-the-cinema-itself-as-a-woman-with-its-alternation-of-light/) [Federico Fellini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-fellini/) > [I guess he'll have to figure out someday that he is supposed to have this dark side, that it is part of what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/i-guess-he-ll-have-to-figure-out-someday-that-he-is-supposed-to-have/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/) [anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [The beauty of darkness is how it lets you see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-beauty-of-darkness-is-how-it-lets-you-see/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [“Even in darkness your lips taste of sunshine”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francesca-lia-block/even-in-darkness-your-lips-taste-of-sunshine/) [Francesca Lia Block](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francesca-lia-block/) > [“Defy me not for gleam can only shine in my existence" said Darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/defy-me-not-for-gleam-can-only-shine-in-my-existence-said-darkness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“What does he look like? The question was soft- tentative. I knew who he meant. I interlaced my fingers through Rhysand's and squeezed tightly.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-j-maas/what-does-he-look-like-the-question-was-soft-tentative-i-knew-who-he/) [Sarah J. Maas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-j-maas/) > [The dream of coming back is becoming a reality. A lot of the uncertainty about the future has been cleared up. A lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-tagliabue/the-dream-of-coming-back-is-becoming-a-reality-a-lot-of-the/) [Paul Tagliabue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-tagliabue/) > [“Life is like coffee, the darker it gets, the more it energizes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ankita-singhal/life-is-like-coffee-the-darker-it-gets-the-more-it-energizes/) [Ankita Singhal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ankita-singhal/) > [Twinking tears in a sea of black. Soft light in a world of darkness. Tiny wishes in a place of dreams. Do you see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-gentile/twinking-tears-in-a-sea-of-black-soft-light-in-a-world-of-darkness/) Nicole Gentile [Browse all 8,219 Darkness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "And the propensity of weak and empty people to follow a leader into the darkness from which there is no return is still flourishing, as ever.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mary McGrory" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/and-the-propensity-of-weak-and-empty-people-to-follow-a-leader-into/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Darkness" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/and-the-propensity-of-weak-and-empty-people-to-follow-a-leader-into/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fb/mary-mcgrory-28645_darkness_and-the-propensity-of-weak-and-empty-peo_1003215.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fb/mary-mcgrory-28645_darkness_and-the-propensity-of-weak-and-empty-peo_1003215.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fb/mary-mcgrory-28645_darkness_and-the-propensity-of-weak-and-empty-peo_1003215.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“And the propensity of weak and empty people to follow a leader into the darkness from which there is no…” — Mary McGrory", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mary McGrory", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-mcgrory/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "And the propensity of weak and...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/and-the-propensity-of-weak-and-empty-people-to-follow-a-leader-into/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-mcgrory/and-the-propensity-of-weak-and-empty-people-to-follow-a-leader-into/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```