Pragi

“To my mind, the hundreds of bio-burial sites left in the Zone are like pagan temples. Only, to which gods were these sacrifices being offered? The God of Science and Knowledge, or the God of Fire?”
― Svetlana Alexievich, Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster

“All the bad stuff gets forgotten, and that is what stays. What lingers is the fact they couldn't cope without you. You were essential. Our system, our military, operates pretty much superbly in an emergency. Out there, you were finally free and needed. Freedom! At moments like that, the Russian people show how great they are. How special! We'll never be like the Dutch or Germans. And we'll never have good roads or groomed lawns. But we'll always have heroes!”
― Svetlana Alexievich, Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster

“At the end, all that's left of you are your possessions. Perhaps that's why I've never been able to throw anything away. Perhaps that's why I hoarded the world: with the hope that when I died, the sum total of my things would suggest a life larger than the one I lived.”
― Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

“There were no saboteurs: just roetgens and curies.”
― Svetlana Alexievich, Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster