--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To question me once is a simple mistake…" description: "\"“To question me once is a simple mistake, Lieutenant. Twice is treason. We execute traitors.”\" — Terry Goodkind" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/181/terry-goodkind-924_2000_to-question-me-once-is-a-simple-mistake_76582.jpg" --- # To question me once is a simple mistake, Lieutenant. Twice… ![“To question me once is a simple mistake, Lieutenant. Twice is treason. We execute traitors.” quote by Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/181/terry-goodkind-924_2000_to-question-me-once-is-a-simple-mistake_76582.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/181/terry-goodkind-924_2000_to-question-me-once-is-a-simple-mistake_76582.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/181/terry-goodkind-924_2000_to-question-me-once-is-a-simple-mistake_76582.jpg) > ““To question me once is a simple mistake, Lieutenant. Twice is treason. We execute traitors.”” [Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A warning that repeated challenges to authority are seen as betrayal, justifying severe punishment. **In simple terms:** Repeated dissent equals treason. Key Takeaway Authority tolerates only one challenge. Themes Power dynamics Loyalty Authority Betrayal Punishment Mood Stern Cautionary Defiant Type Warning Command Moral lesson When to use this quote - Military hierarchy - Corporate chain of command - Political regime - Cult-like organization Key Concepts Authority Dissent Trust Consequences Practical Applications - Leadership training - Risk assessment Questions to Reflect On - When does questioning become disloyalty? - How can leaders balance openness with control? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Betrayal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/betrayal/) [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Treason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/treason/) ## Related quotes > [To question me onceis a simple mistake, Lieutenant. Twice is treason. We execute traitors.-Kahlan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/to-question-me-onceis-a-simple-mistake-lieutenant-twice-is-treason-we/) [Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/) > [“You have one Mord-Sith and one Mother Confessor, here, both in very bad moods. I would suggest you not give us an excuse to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/you-have-one-mord-sith-and-one-mother-confessor-here-both-in-very-bad/) [Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/) > [“I will give you war; a real war, not a slaughter of women and children but a war lead by me, the Mother Confessor,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/i-will-give-you-war-a-real-war-not-a-slaughter-of-women-and-children/) [Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/) > [You'd be surprised. Besides, they don't even send royal traitors to prison, Rose. Everyone knows that." I scoffed. "Are you insane? Of course they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richelle-mead/you-d-be-surprised-besides-they-don-t-even-send-royal-traitors-to/) [Richelle Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-mead/) > [“Free people were not ruled. Freedom had first to be valued before its existence could be demanded.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/free-people-were-not-ruled-freedom-had-first-to-be-valued-before-its/) [Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/) > [“The most important rule there is, the Wizard's Sixth Rule: the only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/the-most-important-rule-there-is-the-wizard-s-sixth-rule-the-only/) [Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/) > [“This was life as it should be lived—proud, reasoned, and a slave to no other man.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/this-was-life-as-it-should-be-lived-proud-reasoned-and-a-slave-to-no/) [Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/) > [“I was hungry when I left Pyongyang. I wasn't hungry just for a bookshop that sold books that weren't about Fat Man and Little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/i-was-hungry-when-i-left-pyongyang-i-wasn-t-hungry-just-for-a/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Playing pool with Korean officials one evening in the Koryo Hotel, which has become the nightspot for foreign businessmen and an increasing number of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/playing-pool-with-korean-officials-one-evening-in-the-koryo-hotel/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“It would be nice to think that the menacing aspects of North Korea were for display also, that the bombs and reactors were Potemkin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/it-would-be-nice-to-think-that-the-menacing-aspects-of-north-korea/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“As the social matrix becomes increasingly subject to rapid fluctuations, throwing out anchors into a collectivised past becomes more prominent than movement into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-hine/as-the-social-matrix-becomes-increasingly-subject-to-rapid/) [Phil Hine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-hine/) > [“The North Korean capital, Pyongyang, is a city consecrated to the worship of a father-son dynasty. 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Only victory can return my life to me!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/i-am-dead-only-vengeance-can-restore-me-only-victory-can-return-my/) [Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/) [Explore all 323 Terry Goodkind quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/) ## More 2000 quotes > [“I remember that one Holy Week, the magazine I got every Thursday, Anteojito , came with a free poster depicting the Stations of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcelo-figueras/i-remember-that-one-holy-week-the-magazine-i-got-every-thursday/) [Marcelo Figueras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcelo-figueras/) > [“Every few years, in the world of sport, someone ascends to the most rarefied of all levels—the one at which it becomes news not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-williams/every-few-years-in-the-world-of-sport-someone-ascends-to-the-most/) [Richard Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-williams/) > [“The most important rule there is, the Wizard's Sixth Rule: the only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/the-most-important-rule-there-is-the-wizard-s-sixth-rule-the-only/) [Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/) > [“At least two important conservative thinkers, Ayn Rand and Leo Strauss, were unbelievers or nonbelievers and in any case contemptuous of Christianity. I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/at-least-two-important-conservative-thinkers-ayn-rand-and-leo-strauss/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“The North Korean capital, Pyongyang, is a city consecrated to the worship of a father-son dynasty. (I came to think of them, with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/the-north-korean-capital-pyongyang-is-a-city-consecrated-to-the/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“As the social matrix becomes increasingly subject to rapid fluctuations, throwing out anchors into a collectivised past becomes more prominent than movement into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-hine/as-the-social-matrix-becomes-increasingly-subject-to-rapid/) [Phil Hine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-hine/) > [“It would be nice to think that the menacing aspects of North Korea were for display also, that the bombs and reactors were Potemkin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/it-would-be-nice-to-think-that-the-menacing-aspects-of-north-korea/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“You have one Mord-Sith and one Mother Confessor, here, both in very bad moods. I would suggest you not give us an excuse to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/you-have-one-mord-sith-and-one-mother-confessor-here-both-in-very-bad/) [Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/) > [“Playing pool with Korean officials one evening in the Koryo Hotel, which has become the nightspot for foreign businessmen and an increasing number of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/playing-pool-with-korean-officials-one-evening-in-the-koryo-hotel/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“This was life as it should be lived—proud, reasoned, and a slave to no other man.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/this-was-life-as-it-should-be-lived-proud-reasoned-and-a-slave-to-no/) [Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/) > [“I was hungry when I left Pyongyang. 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