Kaylee

“While believers in the unconstrained vision seek the special causes of war, poverty, and crime, believers in the constrained vision seek the special causes of peace, wealth, or a law-abiding society.”
― Thomas Sowell, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles

“When I think of pain—of anxiety that gnaws like fire and loneliness that spreads out like a desert, and the heartbreaking routine of monotonous misery, or again of dull aches that blacken our whole landscape or sudden nauseating pains that knock a man’s heart out at one blow, of pains that seem already intolerable and then are suddenly increased, of infuriating scorpion-stinging pains that startle into maniacal movement a man who seemed half dead with his previous tortures—it “quite o’ercrows my spirit”. If I knew any way of escape I would crawl through sewers to find it. But what is the good of telling you about my feelings? You know them already: they are the same as yours.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

“Then again, some of us are very good at saying—and a shadow flits over our faces—‘WeII, yes, certain errors were committed.’ Always the same disingenuously innocent, impersonal form: ‘were committed’—only nobody knows by whom, You might almost think that it was by ordinary workers, by men who shift heavy loads, by collective farmers. Nobody has the courage to say: ‘The Party committed them!’ Our irremovable and irresponsible leaders committed them!’ Yet by whom, except those who had power, could such errors be ‘committed’? Lump all the blame on Stalin? Have you no sense of humor? If Stalin committed all these errors—where were you at the time, you ruling millions?”
― Alexander Solschenizyn, The Gulag Archipelago

“So you see, only a very fine distinction separates us. We are required to concretize the eventuality: in the interest of discrediting for the future any idea of opposition, we are required to accept as having taken place what could only theoretically have taken place. After all, it could have, couldn’t it?”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago