Rupert Rosenblatt

“The other two muleteers, addicted to opium, were invariably in a dazed state of mind. They had to smoke the drug every morning in order to rouse themselves sufficiently to tie up the packs. It was evident this morning that we would not be able to start marching before 8 a.m. whereas the stream of refugees invariably got under way at dawn. Captain Gribble”
― Elizabeth Tebby Germaine, EXTRAORDINARY TRUE STORIES OF SURVIVAL IN BURMA WW2: tens of thousands fled to India from the Japanese Invasion in 1942

“The interior of the Loomis house was silent in a way
that felt deliberate, as though the sound had been swept up with yesterday’s dust. ”
― D.L. Maddox, Secrets

“Living is getting knocked down time and again, then standing up time and again, and once more. It’s easy to act honorable when things are coming along and all your pastures are green. Plenty difficult when the ground has dried and burned and people have connived to take even that from you. I’ll sell this place, or I’ll lose it. I’ll go on. People who don’t have hard times aren’t living.” “You don’t have to sell this ranch, do you?”
― Nancy E. Turner, Sarah's Quilt: A Novel of Sarah Agnes Prine and the Arizona Territories, 1906

“Y, como no me era ajeno el arte de la guerra, le hablé de cañones, pistolas, balas, pólvoras, espadas, bayonetas, batallas, sitios, retiradas, ataques, minas, contraminas, bombardeos, combates navales, buques hundidos con un millar de hombres, veinte mil muertos de cada parte, gemidos de moribundos, miembros volando por el aire, humo, ruido, confusión, muertes por aplastamiento bajo patas de los caballos, huidas, persecución, victoria, campos cubiertos de cadáveres que sirven de alimento a perros, lobos y aves de rapiña; pillajes, despojos, estupros, incendios y destrucciones.”
― Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels