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“Germany has had no monopoly on poor leadership: the U.S. and Britain and other countries have had their share. But the seas protecting the U.S. and Britain meant that inept leaders doing stupid things didn’t bring disaster upon their countries, whereas the ineptness of Wilhelm and his chancellors did bring disaster upon Germany in World War One.”
― Jared Diamond, Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis

“The point is that as soon as fear, hatred, jealousy and power worship are involved, the sense of reality becomes unhinged. And, as I have pointed out already, the sense of right and wrong becomes unhinged also. There is no crime, absolutely none, that cannot be condoned when "our" side commits it. Even if one does not deny that the crime has happened, even if one knows that it is exactly the same crime as one has condemned in some other case, even if one admits in an intellectual sense that it is unjustified -- still one cannot feel that it is wrong. Loyalty is involved, and so pity ceases to function.”
― George Orwell, Notes on Nationalism

“Love work, and keep doing more. Don’t wait for your parents to lie to you and tell you they have money buried.”
― Tracy Kidder, Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness

“That’s why it’s instructive to read biographies even of people whom we can never encounter, and thereby to broaden our database for understanding human behavior.”
― Jared Diamond, Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis