In a world without air all you breathe is adventure!
It is a violation which has obsessed the tyrants of the twentieth century. They do not want simply to kill their opponents, but to liquidate them, to deny that they have ever existed.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the extreme lengths to which tyrants go to erase their opposition and deny their existence.
Helen Dunmore's quote sheds light on the destructive mindset of tyrants in the twentieth century, emphasizing that their goal extends beyond mere physical elimination of opponents. Instead, they seek to obliterate the very memory and existence of those who oppose them, highlighting not only the brutality of their actions but also the deep psychological impact of totalitarian regimes that strive to reshape reality itself by denying others' identities.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on authoritarian regimes, this quote could highlight how historical tyrants sought to erase their opposition.
More from Helen Dunmore
All quotes →Similar quotes
Conventional measures of mental ability, such as intelligence tests and scholarship, show some of the very highest records belong to INFP and INFJ types, who relegate thinking to last place or next to last. The preference for thinking appears to have far less intellectual effect than the preference for intuition, even in some technical fields, such as scientific research, where its influence was expected to be most important.
Only to the extent that men desire peace and brotherhood can the world be made better. No peace even though temporarily obtained, will be permanent, whether to individuals or nations, unless it is built upon the solid foundation of eternal principles.
In the past, it was possible to destroy a village, a town, a region, even a country. Now it is the whole planet that has come under threat. This fact should compel everyone to face a basic moral consideration; from now on, it is only through a conscious choice and then deliberate policy that humanity will survive.
The basic Buddhist stand on the question of equality between the genders is age-old. At the highest tantric levels, at the highest esoteric level, you must respect women: every woman.
Christianity even when watered down is hot enough to boil all modern society to rags.
The control of the production of wealth is the control of human life itself.