The ultimate aim of the ego is not to see something, but to be something.
Muhammad IqbalRead
The aim of torture is to destroy a person as a human being, to destroy their identity and soul. It is more evil than murder.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that torture seeks to strip away a person's humanity, which is a deeper evil than taking their life.
Inge Genefke's quote highlights the profound moral degradation associated with torture, asserting that its purpose is not merely physical harm but the complete annihilation of the victim's identity and spirit. Unlike murder, which ends a life, torture aims to reduce a person to nothingness, erasing their very essence and turning them into a mere shell of who they once were. This perspective invites a reflection on the ethical implications of violence against individuals and raises questions about the resilience of the human spirit in the face of such profound cruelty.
Themes
TortureEvilHumanityIdentitySoul
In practice
Example use cases
In a human rights seminar discussing the impacts of torture on individuals and society.
Similar quotes
History has its truth; and so has legend hers.
Victor HugoRead
There are periods of history when the visions of madmen and dope fiends are a better guide to reality than the common-sense interpretation of data available to the so-called normal mind. This is one such period, if you haven't noticed already.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
The 'free-floating intellectual' may occupy himself with problems because of their inherent interest and importance, perhaps to little effect.
Noam ChomskyRead
The boy was lying, fast asleep, on a rude bed upon the floor; so pale with anxiety, and sadness, and the closeness of his prison, that he looked like death; not death as it shews in shroud and coffin, but in the guise it wears when life has just departed; when a young and gentle spirit has, but an instant, fled to Heaven: and the gross air of the world has not had time to breathe upon the changing dust it hallowed.
Charles DickensRead
Never limit your view of life by any past experience.
Ernest HolmesRead