“The pitifulest thing out is a mob; that’s what an army is – a mob; they don’t fight with courage that’s born in them, but with courage that’s borrowed from their mass, and from their officers. But a mob without any MAN at the head of it, is BENEATH pitifulness.”
– Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter 22. Colonel Sherburn points a gun at the mob and attacks their cowardice, saying they are only followers who borrow courage from their mass. The mob is symbolic of a bad society, as is Sherburn who has gunned down the harmless town drunkard.