#ill

There can be no settlement of a great cause without discussion, and people will not discuss a cause until their attention is drawn to it. ↗

— William Jennings Bryan

#cause #discuss #discussion #drawn #great

They rode for a while in silence, a tiny island in the smoky stream of marching men. Then Lee said slowly, in a strange, soft, slow tone of voice, "Soldiering has one great trap." Longstreet turned to see his face. Lee was riding slowly ahead, without expression. He spoke in that same slow voice. "To be a good soldier you must love the army. But to be a good officer you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love. This is...a very hard thing to do. No other profession requires it. That is one reason why there are so very few good officers. Although there are many good men." Lee rarely lectured. Longstreet sensed a message beyond it. He waited. Lee said, "We don't fear our own deaths, you and I." He smiled slightly, then glanced away. "We protect ourselves out of military necessity, not do not protect yourself enough and must give thought to it. I need you. But the point is, we are afraid to die. We are prepared for our own deaths, and for the deaths of comrades. We learn that at the Point. But I have seen this happen: we are not prepared for as many deaths as we have to face, inevitably as the war goes on. There comes a time..." He paused. He had been gazing straight ahead, away from Longstreet. Now, black-eyed, he turned back, glanced once quickly into Longstreet's eyes, then looked away. "We are never prepared for so many to die. So you understand? No one is. We expect some chosen few. We expect an occasional empty chair, a toast to dear departed comrades. Victory celebrations for most of us, a hallowed death for a few. But the war goes on. And the men die. The price gets ever higher. Some officers...can pay no longer. We are prepared to lose some of us." He paused again. "But never ALL of us. Surely not all of us. But...that is the trap. You can hold nothing back when you attack. You must commit yourself totally. And yet ,if they all die, a man must ask himself, will it have been worth it? ↗

— Michael Shaara

#the-killer-angels #death

Whiskey's to tough, Champagne costs too much, Vodka puts my mouth in gear. I hope this refrain, Will help me explain, As a matter of fact, I like beer. ↗

— Tom T. Hall

#champagne #costs #explain #fact #gear

So the American government lied to the Native Americans for many, many years, and then President Clinton lied about a relationship, and everyone was surprised! A little naïve, I feel! ↗

— Eddie Izzard

#bill-clinton #clinton #lying #native-americans #president

There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. ↗

— Søren Kierkegaard

#fools #self-deception #truth #willful-blindness #willful-ignorance

But you can't make people listen. They have to come round in their own time, wondering what happened and why the world blew up around them. It can't last. ↗

— Ray Bradbury

#lying #truth #willful-ignorance #ignorance

Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids. ↗

— John Steinbeck

#willful-ignorance #ignorance

There are things we never tell anyone. We want to but we can’t. So we write them down. Or we paint them. Or we sing about them. It’s our only option. To remember. To attempt to discover the truth. Sometimes we do it to stay alive. These things, they live inside of us. They are the secrets we stash in our pockets and the weapons we carry like guns across our backs. And in the end we have to decide for ourselves when these things are worth fighting for, and when it’s time to throw in the towel. Sometimes a person has to die in order to live. Deep down, I know you know this. You just can’t seem to do anything about it. I guess it’s a sad fact of life that some of us move on and some of us inevitably stay behind. Only in this case I’m not sure which one of us is doing which. You were right about one thing though. It’s not fate. It’s a choice. And who knows, maybe we’ll meet again someday, somewhere up above all the noise. Until then, when you think of me, try and remember the good stuff. Try and remember the love. ↗

— Tiffanie DeBartolo

#tiffanie-debartolo #life

Oh, leave it,” said Jem, kicking Will, not without affection, lightly on the ankle. “She’s annexed my plan!” “Will,” Tessa said firmly. “Do you care more about the plan being enacted or about getting credit for it?” Will pointed a finger at her. “That,” he said. “The second one. ↗

— Cassandra Clare

#tessa #will #light

Hell", Shane spit in disgust. "I can't hit a girl. Here, Claire. You hit her" He tossed her the bat. ↗

— Rachel Caine

#monica #morganville-vampires #shane-collins #violence-towards-women #violence