“Will you stay in Germany? No. Somewhere different. Like where? Somewhere there was no war. Ireland maybe.”
“It was as if hell itself had taken human form and come up from the abyss.”
“Anecdotal tales of combat are meaningless to Americans, we absorb tales of violence like a sponge. Mythological violence is second nature to us. The real thing is not. War begins long before battle. It begins when we are boys longing for the initiation rite of the warrior and everything it promises: sexual prowess and sexual license. War lasts long after the last bullet is fired; into old age and death we go carrying a secret knowledge that no one wants to know about. War is the opposite of sexual prowess. War is desire stripped of humanity.”
“Victory stands on the back of sacrifice”
“Victory stands on the back of sacrifice.”
“L espoir s envole, la résignation toute noire, s abat lourdement sur l âme.”
“I knew then the answer to my question; the question I’d asked myself many times during this war, and many more times since it ended. When would I be able to put the war behind me? When would I be able to forget it? And I knew now that the answer was simple. Never. I never would. Some things end. But war never does.”
“Сейчас школьники многих, если не всех, школ Москвы пишут поздравительные открытки и письма поддержки своим однолеткам из Донецка и Луганска, а в самих Донецке и Луганске дети рисуют рисунки-подарки для бойцов ополчения , то есть для боевиков, воюющих с украинской армией. Дети, живущие в других регионах Украины, тоже рисуют патриотические рисунки-подарки для бойцов украинской армии и добровольцев. Когда-нибудь рисунки детей, живущих сейчас по разные стороны от линии фронта, будут выставлены в одном музее. Очень хочется, чтобы это время наступило быстрее.”
“Наш президент распят на шоколадном кресте: 82% какао, спирт, ванилин, орехи, вечность — в дорожной карте, смерть — в путевом листе, только радиоволны любят свои помехи. [...] Наша война еще нагуливает аппетит, мимо креста маршируют преданые комбаты, но Петр поднимает голову и победно хрипит: 82% какао, спирт, ванилин, цукаты…”
“Sometimes war is necessary to teach us the value of peace. Sometimes you need to learn the real value of diplomacy in avoiding war. And I d rather my students learned those lessons on the playground than on the battlefield.”
“Хтось розповів, що його підстрелили на блок-посту, вранці, зі зброєю в руках, якось випадково — ніхто нічого не встиг зрозуміти. Поховали в спільній могилі — їх там усіх так і ховали. Особисті речі передали батькам. Статус так ніхто й не правив. Прийде час, і яка-небудь наволоч обов’язково буде писати про це героїчні вірші. Прийде час і яка-небудь наволоч скаже, що про це взагалі не треба писати.”
“The war was all that mattered to Hitler. Yet, cocooned in the strange world of the Wolf s Lair, he was increasingly severed from its realities, both at the front and at home. Detachment ruled out all vestiges of humanity. Even towards those in his own entourage who had been with him for many years, there was nothing resembling real affection, let alone friendship; genuine fondness was reserved only for his young Alsatian. He had described the human being the previous autumn as no more than a ridiculous cosmic bacterium (eine lächerliche Weltraumbakterie ) . Human life and suffering was, thus, of no consequence to him. He never visited a field-hospital, nor the homeless after bomb-raids. He saw no massacres, went near no concentration camp, viewed no compound of starving prisoners-of-war. His enemies were in his eyes like vermin to be stamped out. But his profound contempt for human existence extended to his own people. Decisions costing the lives of tens of thousands of his soldiers were made — perhaps it was only thus possible to make them — without consideration for any human plight. As he had told Guderian during the winter crisis, feelings of sympathy and pity for the suffering of his soldiers had to be shut out. For Hitler, the hundreds of thousands of dead and maimed were merely an abstraction, the suffering a necessary and justified sacrifice in the heroic struggle for the survival of the people.”
“Un governo che manda al fronte dei quindicenni, con fucili vecchi di quarant anni, e tiene in retrovia gli uomini piú robusti e le armi piú nuove, ha evidentemente piú paura della rivoluzione che dei fascisti.”
“The refusal to take part in all war under any conditions is an unworldly view bound to remain a sectarian doctrine. It no more challenges the state s authority than the celibacy of priests challenges the sanctity of marriage.”
“Мое зеркало успешно отражает агрессию.”
“I dreamed in night vision; white flowers of nocturnal gun fire – day residue shot to hell. If I held my dreams to a windowsill, sun would sieve through my screams.”
“— Дивився на своє місто. З вікон розбитого старого терміналу [...] Здавалося, можна вийти й піти додому, а ні — стріляють. Слухаю, намагаючись уявити, як це — бачити знайомі вулиці, знати, що десь там вікно твоєї кімнати, твої книжки, зів’ялі без нагляду бегонії у вазонках, коти у сусідів або у під’їзді, безпритульні, прислухаються до кроків, чи ти, бува, не повертаєшся...”