Use Your Head

"How could someone fight at his side? Darken Rahl wants to rule all, be master of them all. How could they fight for him?"
The wizard leaned against the rock and looked over the hills as if he saw more there than there was. His tone was full of sorrow. "Because Richard, lots of people need to be ruled to be able to live. In their selfishness and greed, they see free people as their oppressors. They want a leader that will cut the bigger plants so the sun will reach them. They feel no plant can become bigger than the smallest one, so all plants get light. They'd rather receive a guiding light, no matter the fuel, than to light a candle themselves."
Some think that when Rahl wins he will smile at them and they will be rewarded, and so to win his favor they are as ruthless as him. Some are simply blind for the truth and fight for the lies they hear. And some notice, when that guiding light is burning, that they are chained, and then it's too late." Zedd stroked his sleeves smooth alongside his arms and sighed. "There have always been wars, Richard. Every war is a murderous battle between enemies. And yet no army ever went to the battlefield with the idea that the Creator had chosen the side of their enemy."
Richard shook his head. "It makes no sense."
"I'm quite certain Rahl's followers think us to be monsters, capable of anything. They will hear endless stories about the ruthless cruelty of their enemy. I'm sure that none of them knows much about Darken Rahl, except what has been told to them by Darken Rahl himself."
The wizard frowned, his intelligent eyes sharp. "Maybe it's a twisted display of logic, but that doesn't make it less threatening or lethal. Rahl's followers only have to crush us, they need not understand anything else. But if you want to win, against a stronger enemy, you will have to use your head."

Excerpt from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth: Wizard's first rule. Translated from dutch.