Promise the weak strength and have the strength of a thousand weak at your bidding.
~ William Carlos Williams, from "Red Eric," In the American Grain
I'm more interested in moving forward than parsing how we got here but because it's my main man, WCW, saying it, & a hundred years ago at that (In the American Grain was published in 1925), I'll lay it here. He certainly didn't mean to be congratulating anyone for being strong, but analyzing "weaklings holding together to appear strong" and how hard it is to be alone.