James

“Worse, it had revealed something about Britain that few wanted to acknowledge. The country told itself that, while other nations might be willing to goose-step or bend to the will of a dictator, such things were not in the British nature. But Roberts had found ordinary British men and women who didn’t just privately wish Hitler well, but were prepared to risk their lives to help him. Behind them were surely many more who would cheerfully have gone along with fascism if it had seemed the safest course.”
― Robert Hutton, Agent Jack: The True Story of MI5's Secret Nazi Hunter

“EVIL COMES OFTEN to a man with money; tyranny comes surely to him without it.”
― Louis L'Amour, The Walking Drum: A Novel

“The answer to the question in this book’s title is both paradoxical and horrible. War has been good for making humanity safer and richer, but it has done so through mass murder. But because war has been good for something, we must recognize that all this misery and death was not in vain. Given a choice of how to get from the poor, violent Stone Age to the peace and prosperity of Figures 7.1 and 7.2, few of us, I am sure, would want war to be the way, but evolution—which is what human history is—is not driven by what we want. In the end, the only thing that matters is the grim logic of the game of death.”
― Ian Morris, War! What Is It Good For?: Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots

“There is a smaller crater, and on the lip of this we have lunch. There are flowers here in quantity, and it is a lovely moment. A marvellous view all round, with the hills of the Jebel Sinjar not far away. The utter peace is wonderful. A great wave of happiness surges over me, and I realize how much I love this country, and how complete and satisfying this life is….”
― Agatha Christie Mallowan, Come, Tell Me How You Live: An Archaeological Memoir