“All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”
Blaise Pascal
The way that this quote ends has always stuck with me.
One of my favorites, and the author is a woman:
“All wars are sacred”, he said “to those who have to fight them. If the people who started wars didn’t make them sacred, who would be foolish enough to fight?”
“But, no matter what rallying cries the orators give to the idiots who fight, no matter what noble purposes they assign to wars, there is never but one reason for a war. And that is money. All wars are in reality money squabbles, But so few people ever realize it. Their ears are too full of bugles and drums and fine words from stay-at-home orators.”
"Sometimes the rallying cry is ‘Save the Tomb of Christ from the Heathen!’ Sometimes it’s ‘Down with Popery!’ and sometimes ‘Liberty!’ and sometimes ‘Cotton, Slavery and States’ Rights!’ ”
A single stanza poem by Roger McGough entitled On Picnics:
at the going down of the sun
and in the morning
I try to remember them
but their names are ordinary names
and their causes are thighbones
tugged excitedly from the soil
by frenchchildren
on picnics.
(hope it’s ok to post this – it’s hard to excerpt a one stanza poem But if it’s not ok, here’s a link to someone else’s reposting).
McGough’s poem probably resonates with me because the Ode of Remembrance, from Binyon’s For The Fallen is so strongly associated here with ANZAC day.
A related and poetic offering from the ANZAC memorial, written in 1934 by Atatürk (who was a divisional commander during the Gallipoli campaign):
Those heroes that shed their blood And lost their lives…
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore, rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies
And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side,
Here in this country of ours.
You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries…
Wipe away your tears.
Your sons are now lying in our bosom And are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land, they have
Become our sons as well.
And in kind reply, the wonderful poem at the Ataturk Memorial in Canberra:
Heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives… you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours… You the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. Having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.
fessie, it may be just that I’ve read it six hundred times, but to me GWTW has a flow all the way through it, like a song or a poem. One of my all time favorite books.
Mine is the opening paragraph of The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson.
Speaking of Ataturk, the thing that really intrigues me is not simply the quote that both Apollyon and Paul of Saudi have mentioned, as remarkable as it is; but also his other famous words associated with Gallipoli:
It is the juxtaposition of both those sentiments from the same man (Although separated by twenty years of time.) that truly intrigues me. Either one alone would be remarkable, as I’ve said. That the same man could make both statements, hints at someone I want to know better.
I would so be there…but I have to look after my poor sickly mother and my sister and her husband seem to think they own the car, though I helped them pay for it. May a rain of stones fall on their roof!
"What about the main thing in life, all its riddles? If you want, I’ll spell it out for you right now. Do not pursue what is illusory, property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade, and is confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life - don’t be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is, after all, all the same: the bitter doesn’t last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing. It is enough if you don’t freeze in the cold and if thirst and hunger don’t claw at your insides. If your back isn’t broken, if your feet can walk, if both arms can bend, if both eyes see, and if both ears hear, then whom should you envy? And why? Our envy of others devours us most of all. Rub your eyes and purify your heart - and prize above all else in the world those who love you and who wish you well. Do not hurt them or scold them, and never part from any of them in anger; after all, you simply do not know: it might be your last act before your arrest, and that will be how you will be imprinted in their memory. "
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn from “The Gulag Archipelago”
“Ignite a candle of love in every meeting, and with tenderness rejoice and cheer ye every heart. Care for the stranger as for one of your own; show to alien souls the same loving kindness ye bestow upon your faithful friends. Should any come to blows with you, seek to be friends with him; should any stab you to the heart, be ye a healing salve unto his sores; should any taunt and mock at you, meet him with love. Should any heap his blame upon you, praise ye him; should he offer you a deadly poison, give him the choicest honey in exchange; and should he threaten your life, grant him a remedy that will heal him evermore. Should he be pain itself, be ye his medicine; should he be thorns, be ye his roses and sweet herbs. Perchance such ways and words from you will make this darksome world turn bright at last; will make this dusty earth turn heavenly, this devilish prison place become a royal palace of the Lord - so that war and strife will pass and be no more, and love and trust will pitch their tents on the summits of the world.” – Bah’ai faith prayer.
For me, the single greatest thing would have to be Franz Kafka’s Before the Law, although it sounds a lot better in the original German. I’m not very well read, generally speaking, but Kafka introduced me to the existentionalist novel, and this exerpt from The Trial has stayed with me for the 20 years or so since I’ve read it.
I really wouldn’t go so far as to call Kipling’s Kim the single greatest thing overwritten as a whole, but quite a bit of prose stands out as beautiful. The part where he describes the Grand Trunk Road makes me come back to the novel every few months.
On a more personal level, I’ve always loved the sentence below (from Glimpses of World History, by Jawaharlal Nehru) because it describes me perfectly:
Reminds me of a quote from Gustav Mahler: “I am three times homeless: as a Bohemian in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans, and as a Jew in the world.”
The only things known to go faster than ordinary light is monarchy, according to the philosopher Ly Tin Weedle. He reasoned like this: you can’t have more than one king, and tradition demands that there is no gap between kings, so when a king dies the succession must therefore pass to the heir instantaneously. Presumably, he said, there must be some elementary particles – kingons, or possibly queons – that do this job, but of course succession sometimes fails if, in mid-flight, they strike an anti-particle, or republicon. His ambitious plans to use his discovery to send messages, involving the careful torturing of a small king in order to modulate the signal, were never fully expanded because, at that point, the bar closed.
