“Find a reason to turn your nose up at a culture, to denigrate a people because they are different, and it's not such a giant leap from ethnic subjugation to ethnic slaughter”
― Ronald H. Balson, quote from Once We Were Brothers
“It’s another reminder of what can happen when evil is allowed to incubate. Find a reason to turn your nose up at a culture, to denigrate a people because they’re different, and it’s not such a giant leap from ethnic subjugation to ethnic slaughter.”
― Ronald H. Balson, quote from Once We Were Brothers
“Ti fidi di chi ti è vicino?
Sei pronto a credergli per sempre?
Nessuno è quello che sembra.
Adesso stai per capirlo.”
― Ronald H. Balson, quote from Once We Were Brothers
“Nazi persecution didn’t limit itself to race. Religion, national origin, alternative lifestyles, persons with disabilities—all were targets. How would you characterize the Slavs? Gypsies? Moors? All the lines get blurred. Even within Judaism, there are many races. There are Negro Jews in Ethiopia and Middle Eastern Jews in Iraq. There have been Jews in Japan since the 1860s. Poland was fractionally Jewish, but there were still three and a half million Jews living there in the 1930s.” “But still, today it all seems so incomprehensible.” Ben raised his eyebrows. “Incomprehensible because we’re Americans? Land of the free and home of the brave? Let’s not kid ourselves. We’ve authored our own chapters in the history of shame, periods where the world looked at us and shook its head. Early America built an economy based on slavery and it was firmly supported by law. Read the Supreme Court’s decision in Dred Scott. We trampled entire cultures of Native Americans. ‘No Irish Need Apply’ was written on factory gates in nineteenth-century New York.” Ben shook his head. “We’d like to think we’re beyond such hatred, but the fact is, we can never let our guard down. That’s why this case is so important. To you and to me. It’s another reminder of what can happen when evil is allowed to incubate. Find a reason to turn your nose up at a culture, to denigrate a people because they’re different, and it’s not such a giant leap from ethnic subjugation to ethnic slaughter.” Catherine”
― Ronald H. Balson, quote from Once We Were Brothers
“Catherine’s a lawyer, she doesn’t find people. Does this involve a court case?” “No.”
― Ronald H. Balson, quote from Once We Were Brothers
“A birth certificate from Frankfurt proves nothing,” Ben said weakly from his chair.”
― Ronald H. Balson, quote from Once We Were Brothers
“The doors of decision are one-way only. You can never go back. I’ll never be the same person again.”
― Ronald H. Balson, quote from Once We Were Brothers
“going to represent him. I’m either going to file a civil suit or I’m”
― Ronald H. Balson, quote from Once We Were Brothers
Ronald H. Balson
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“Every man finds his limitations, Mr. Holmes, but at least it cures us of the weakness of self-satisfaction.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, quote from The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
“(...) You Sophotechs are smarter than I am; why did you let me do such a foolish thing?”
“We answer every question our resources and instruction parameters allow; we are more than happy to advise you, when and if we are asked.”
“That’s not what I’m thinking of, and you know it.”
“You are thinking we should use force to defend you against yourself against your will? That is hardly a thought worth thinking, sir. Your life has exactly the value you yourself place on it. It is yours to damage or ruin as you wish.”
(...)
“Is that another hint? Are you saying I’m destroying my life? People at the party, twice now, have said or implied that I’m going to endanger the Oecumene itself. Who stopped me?”
“Not I. While life continues, it cannot be made to be without risk. The assessment of whether or not a certain risk is worth taking depends on subjective value-judgments. About such judgments even reasonable men can differ. We Sophotechs will not interfere with such decisions. (...) If we were to overrule your ownership of your own life, your life, would, in effect, become our property, and you, in effect, would become merely the custodian or trustee of that life. Do you think you would value it more in such a case, or less? And if you valued it less, would you not take greater risks and behave more self-destructively? If, on the other hand, each man’s life is his own, he may experiment freely, risking only what is his, till he find his best happiness.”
“I see the results of failed experiments all around us, in these cylinders. I see wasted lives, and people trapped in mind sets and life forms which lead nowhere.”
“While life continues, experimentation and evolution must also. The pain and risk of failure cannot be eliminated. The most we can do is maximize human freedom, so that no man is forced to pay for another man’s mistakes, so that the pain of failure falls only on he who risks it. And you do not know which ways of life lead nowhere. Even we Sophotechs do not know where all paths lead.”
“How benevolent of you! We will always be free to be stupid.”
“Cherish that freedom, young master; it is basic to all others.”
― quote from The Golden Age
“We've got work to do. Strip."
"Strip for what?"
"I'm going to measure you for your dress. Strip!"
Rachel saved me…sort of. "You can do her measurements with her clothes on, Mamma," she chastised.
"Oh, I know I can." She pointed at me. "But look at her face! Ha! I just wanted to see her face pucker up like that.”
― Shelly Crane, quote from Independence
“Still, I look down, and the grass is so green, I cannot understand how it does not wither and die with sorrow.
~Song of the Sparrow”
― Lisa Ann Sandell, quote from Song of the Sparrow
“Graeme leaned down and pressed his lips to Eveline’s cool forehead. “Come back to me,” he whispered. “I’m waiting, Eveline.”
― Maya Banks, quote from Never Seduce a Scot
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