Once and for all
the idea of glorious victories
won by the glorious army
must be wiped out
Neither side is glorious
On either side they’re just frightened men messing their pants
and they all want the same thing
Not to lie under the earth
but to walk upon it
without crutches
(Roux, act 1, scene 19)
Every person has his secret; in reverie, unbeknown to others, he finds peace, freedom, sorrow and love.
When you think about new-born babies being killed in our own lifetime,’ he said, ‘all the efforts of culture seem worthless. What have people learned from all our Goethes and Bachs? To kill babies?
I realized that the worst thing that could happen to me was about to happen to me.
In war, (freedom’s) meaning is bound to the collective, making peace and freedom the same . . . The collective is a mob that suffers in silence, and waits.
civilization is the very root cause of the woes of civilization
A poor man in this world can be done to death in two main ways, by the absolute indifference of his fellows in peacetime or by their homicidal mania when there’s a war.
Always seek justice, but love only mercy. To love justice and hate mercy is but a doorway to more injustice.
It’s all nonsense. It’s only nonsense. I’m not afraid of the rain. I’m not afraid of the rain. Oh, oh, God, I wish I wasn’t.’ She was crying. I comforted her and she stopped crying. But outside it kept on raining.
The coming years will prove increasingly cynical and cruel. People will definitely not slip into oblivion while hugging each other. The final stages in the life of humanity will be marked by the monstrous war of all against all: the amount of suffering will be maximal.
