Joe Martin

“You don't have to be very bright to carry a handbarrow. So the squad leader gave such work to people who'd been in positions of authority.”
― Alexander Solzhenitsyn, One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich

“Who?”
“Schiller. A German dramatist of three centuries ago. In a play about Joan of Arc, he said, ‘Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.’ I’m no god and I’ll contend no longer. Let it go, Pete, and go your way. Maybe the world will last our time and, if not, there’s nothing that can be done anyway. I’m sorry, Pete. You fought the good fight, but you lost, and I’m through.”
― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

“I wondered if the trees were God. They were like God in many respects: they stood silent, and most people only noticed them when the need arose.”
― Silas House, A Parchment of Leaves

“The thoughts of a prisoner—they're not free either. They kept returning to the same things. A single idea keeps stirring. Would they feel that piece of bread in the mattress? Would he have any luck in the dispensary that evening? Would they out Buinovsky in the cells? And how did Tsezar get his hands on that warm vest?”
― Alexander Solzhenitsyn, One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich