I leave shreds of my soul on every experience.
Alas, nothing reveals man the way war does. Nothing so accentuates in him the beauty and ugliness, the intelligence and foolishness, the brutishness and humanity, the courage and cowardice, the enigma.
Interpretation
What this quote means
War brings out the duality of human nature, showcasing both our virtues and vices.
Oriana Fallaci's quote reflects the profound and often contrasting aspects of humanity that are revealed in the face of war. In conflict, individuals encounter a wide spectrum of characteristics, from bravery and intellect to brutality and cowardice. War serves as a harsh mirror, exposing the complex nature of humanity, which consists of beauty intertwined with ugliness, wisdom alongside folly, and compassion coexisting with cruelty. Ultimately, it highlights the enigmatic essence of what it means to be human.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about the impact of war on society.
More from Oriana Fallaci
All quotes →I know ours is a world made by men for men, their dictatorship is so ancient it even extends to language.
A lot of women ask themselves why they should bring a child into the world? So that it will be hungry, so that it will be cold, so that it will be betrayed and humiliated, so that it will be slaughtered by war or disease? They reject the hope that its hunger will be satisfied, its cold warmed, that loyalty and respect will accompany it through life, that it will be a devote a life to the effort to eliminate war and disease.
You cannot govern, you cannot administrate, with an ignoramus.
What are the symbols of American strength, wealth, power and modernity? Certainly not jazz and rock and roll, not chewing-gum or hamburgers, Broadway or Hollywood. It's their skyscrapers. Their Pentagon. Their science. Their technology.
I am known for a life spent in the struggle for freedom, and freedom includes the freedom of religion.
Similar quotes
Meaning is a shaky edifice we build out of scraps, dogmas, childhood injuries, newspaper articles, chance remarks, old fillms, small victories, people hated, people loved; perhaps it is because our sense of what is the case is constructed from such inadequate materials that we defend it so fiercely, even to death.
Our Constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.
The framers of our Constitution meant we were to have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.
Free-will doctrine-what does it? It magnifies man into God. It declares God's purposes a nullity, since they cannot be carried out unless men are willing. It makes God's will a waiting servant to the will of man, and the whole covenant of grace dependent on human action. Denying election on the ground of injustice, it holds God to be a debtor to sinners.
Compare society to a boat. Her progress through the water will not depend upon the exertion of her crew, but upon the exertion devoted to propelling her. This will be lessened by any expenditure of force in fighting among themselves, or in pulling in different directions.
I know beginnings, I know endings too, and life-in-death, and something else I'd rather not recall just now.