odd.Ro23r7

“What a tale he's told, what a bitter bowl of war he's drunk to the dregs.”
― Virgil, The Aeneid

“The great challenge today is not hegemony, but turmoil, and coping with the latter requires strategic vision, firmness of purpose, and a clear sense of our values (p. 190).”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power

“Why do smart people exist, if not to figure out convoluted problems?”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

“Live with a steady superiority over life-don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is, after all, all the same: the bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing. It is enough if you don't freeze in the cold and if thirst and hunger don't claw at your insides. If your back isn't broken, if your feet can walk, if both arms can bend, if both eyes can see, and if both ears can hear, then whom should you envy? And why? Our envy of others devours us most of all.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn