Ed Fogell

“All human cultures are at least in part the legacy of empires and imperial civilisations, and no academic or political surgery can cut out the imperial legacies without killing the patient.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“For the merchants, the entire world was a single market and all humans were potential customers. They tried to establish an economic order that would apply to all, everywhere. For the conquerors, the entire world was a single empire and all humans were potential subjects, and for the prophets, the entire world held a single truth and all humans were potential believers. They too tried to establish an order that would be applicable for everyone everywhere.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“During World War Two, BBC News was broadcast to Nazi-occupied Europe. Each news programme opened with a live broadcast of Big Ben tolling the hour – the magical sound of freedom. Ingenious German physicists found a way to determine the weather conditions in London based on tiny differences in the tone of the broadcast ding-dongs. This information offered invaluable help to the Luftwaffe. When the British Secret Service discovered this, they replaced the live broadcast with a set recording of the famous clock.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“It’s all shit,” he had muttered in English, and felt better.”
― James Clavell, Shōgun: The Epic Novel of Japan