"Build well, and eventually your beautiful creation, Grandfather, with or without my help, eventually it will fall. But destroy thoroughly, destroy effectively, and what was wrecked will never be rebuilt. Never."
-Abner Doon in "Breaking the Game" by Orson Scott Card, a short story within the Worthing Saga.
This guy was the most methodical and rational antagonist that I know of, from any fiction, and it was incredible to read his systematic approach to bringing down a galactic empire over subsequent short stories. If anyone else here has read Capitol, Hot Sleep, or The Worthing Chronicle, you know what I mean.