Honeypie’s Reviews > War and Peace > Status Update

"What causes historical events? Power. What is power? Power is the collective will of the people transferred to one person. Under what condition is the will of the people delegated to one person? On condition that that person expresses the will of the whole people. That is, power is power: in other words, power is a word the meaning of which we do not understand."

circular reference ito?

Completed: 16/17

"he is collecting a library and has made it a rule not to buy a new book till he has read what he had already bought"

Ay malala si kuya. But still, I like (Count) Nicholas Rostov. I didn't at first, but I like him with his wife.

And also, one last chapter!!!

Completed: 14/17

"And it occurs to no one that to admit a greatness not commensurable with the standard of right and wrong is merely to admit one’s own nothingness and immeasurable meanness.
For us with the standard of good and evil given us by Christ, no human actions are incommensurable. And there is no greatness where simplicity, goodness, and truth are absent."

Death sucks. But war sucks more.

"One must have the prospect of a promised land to have the strength to move."

Short chapter/s, but mostly about Napoleon and Kutusov and the war in general. I have to admit that I didn't dwell too much on these.

12/17

"Why don't I pray for what I want?"

Natasha redeemed herself in this chapter at least.

"The tales and descriptions of that time without exception speak only of the self-sacrifice, patriotic devotion, despair, grief, and the heroism of the Russians. But it was not really so.... Most of the people at that time paid no attention to the general progress of events but were guided only by their private interests, and they were the very people whose activities at that period were most useful."

11/17

"It is possible to love someone dear to you with human love, but an enemy can only be loved by divine love."

10/17

"He felt in his own person the sufferings and death he had witnessed on the battlefield. The heaviness of his head and chest reminded him of the possibility of suffering and death for himself. At that moment he did not desire Moscow, or victory, or glory (what need had he for any more glory?). The one thing he wished for was rest, tranquillity, and freedom."

I like Princess Mary, because I think she's sincere that she wants to help others. But I guess their 'tenants' don't see it in that way.

Anyway. Lahat naman may kanya-kanyang suffering. Dito nakakakainis yung ibang tao e.

9/17

Blind or baseless idolatry is real. (Or parasocial behaviour) Nakakaloka yung "devotion" ng mga tao to their emperor. Which makes you think, what exactly has he done for them!?
And the idea that they're willing to give up everything, even sending their servants to war, for him (or "for their fatherland") is nauseating.
Slavery, or thinking of people as their possessions, is real.
I shudder at these scenes.