Leo Tolstoy. Hadji Murat (№ 459744)

The constant, obvious, contrary to evidence, flattery of the people around him [Emperor Nicholas] brought him to the point where he no longer saw his contradictions, no longer adjusted his actions and words to reality, with logic or even with simple common sense, but was completely confident that all his orders, no matter how senseless, unfair and inconsistent with each other, became meaningful, fair, and consistent with each other only because he made them.