I have a private theory, Sir, that there are no heroes and no monsters in this world. Only children should be allowed to use these words
Alfred De VignyRead
The existence of the soldier, next to capital punishment, is the most grievous vestige of barbarism which survives among men.
Interpretation
The soldier's existence symbolizes a lingering brutality in human society akin to capital punishment.
Alfred De Vigny's quote suggests that the role of soldiers, who are often required to kill or act violently in the name of duty, is one of the most harsh reminders of humanity's barbaric tendencies. He implies that the need for military force signals a failure in civilization, as it echoes the primitive instincts of violence and punishment that should have been transcended.
In practice
In a speech about the human cost of conflict, this quote can highlight the moral implications of military service.
I have a private theory, Sir, that there are no heroes and no monsters in this world. Only children should be allowed to use these words
We shall find in our troubled hearts, where discord reigns, two needs which seem at variance, but which merge, as I think, in a common source - the love of the true, and the love of the fabulous.
History is a novel for which the people is the author.
Do you not see with your own eyes the chrysalis fact assume by degrees the wings of fiction?
Of what use were the arts if they were only the reproduction and the imitation of life?
Of what use is the memory of facts, if not to serve as an example of good or of evil?
Psychoanalysis has a degree of unreliability about it. You will never know whether you've found the truth. You may find a subjective truth, but you don't know.
Rash indeed is he who reckons on tomorrow, or happily on the days beyond it; for tomorrow is not, until today is past.
When a country is in harmony with the Tao, the factories make trucks and tractors. When a country goes counter to the Tao, warheads are stockpiled outside the cities. There is no greater illusion than fear, no greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself, no greater misfortune than having an enemy. Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe.
When you clean up a city, you destroy it.
Actually, there is only one first question of government, and it is How should we live? or What kind of people do we want our citizens to be?
She could never be a saint, but she thought she could be a martyr if they killed her quick.
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