“Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat. Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“I am a little man and this is a little town, but there must be a spark in little men that can burst into flame.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“The flies have conquered the flypaper.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“I have no choice of living or dying, you see, sir--but I do have a choice of how I do it. If I tell them not to fight, they will be sorry, but they will fight. If I tell them to fight, they will be glad, and I who am not a very brave man will have made them a little braver.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“Defeat is a momentary thing. A defeat doesn't last. We were defeated and now we attack. Defeat means nothing. Can't you understand that? Do you know what they are whispering behind doors?”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“In marching, in mobs, in football games, and in war, outlines become vague; real things become unreal and a fog creeps over the mind. Tension and excitement, weariness, movement--all merge in one great gray dream, so that when it is over, it is hard to remember how it was when you killed men or ordered them to be killed. Then other people who were not there tell you what it was like and you say vaguely, "yes, I guess that's how it was.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“I'm tired of people who have not been at war who know all about it.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“I have no choice of living or dying, you see, sir, but I do have a choice of how I do it.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“They think that just because they have only one leader and one head, we are all like that. They know that ten heads lopped off will destroy them, but we are a free people; we have as many heads as we have people, and in a time of need leaders pop up among us like mushrooms.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“war is treachery and hatred, the muddling of incompetent generals, the torture and killing and sickness and tiredness, until at last it is over and nothing has changed except for new weariness and new hatreds.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“Only once or twice in her life had she ever understood all of him, but the part of him which she knew, she knew intricately and well. No little appetite or pain, no carelessness or meanness in him escaped her; no thought or dream or longing in him ever reached her. And yet several times in her life she had seen the stars.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“Lanser said, "There are no peaceful people, when will you learn it? There are no friendly people, can't you understand that?”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“You are not a man anymore. You are a soldier. Your comfort is of no importance and your life isn’t of much importance. Most of your orders will be unpleasant, but that’s not your business.They should’ve trained you for this, and not for flower-strewn streets. They should have built your soul with truth, not led along with lies.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“They know that ten heads lopped off will destroy them, but we are a free people; we have as many heads as we have people, and in a time of need leaders pop up among us like mushrooms.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“And the girl,' Lanser continued, 'the girl, Lieutenant, you may rape her, or protect her, or marry her--that is of no importance so long as you shoot her when it is ordered.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“That is a great mystery,” said Doctor Winter. “That is a mystery that has disturbed rulers all over the world—how the people know. It disturbs the invaders now, I am told, how news runs through censorships, how the truth of things fights free of control. It is a great mystery.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“The Mayor spoke proudly. 'Yes, they will light it. I have no choice of living or dying, you see, sir, but—I do have a choice of how I do it. If I tell them not to fight, they will be sorry, but they will fight. If I tell them to fight, they will be glad, and I who am not a very brae man will have made them a little braver.' He smiled apologetically. 'You see, it is an easy thing to do, since the end for me is the same.'
Lanser said, "If you say yes, we can tell them you said no. We can tell them you begged for your life.'
And Winter broke in angrily, 'They would know. You do not keep secrets. One of your men got out of hand one night and he said the flies had conquered the flypaper, and now the whole nation knows his words. They have made a song of it. The flies have conquered the flypaper. You do not keep secrets, Colonel.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“And the hatred was deep in the eyes of the people, beneath the surface.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“Joseph habitually scowled at furniture, expecting it to be impertinent, mischievous, or dusty.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“If he considered God at all, he thought of Him as an old and honored general, retired and gray, living among remembered battles and putting wreaths on the graves of his lieutenants several times a year.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“Lanser had been in Belgium and France twenty years before and he tried not to think what he knew—that war is treachery and hatred, the muddling of incompetent generals, the torture and killing and sickness and tiredness, until at last it is over and nothing has changed except for new weariness and new hatreds.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“Captain Loft believed that all women fall in love with a uniform and he did not see how it could be otherwise.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“That is a mystery that has disturbed rulers all over the world—how the people know. It disturbs the invaders now, I am told, how news runs through censorships, how the truth of things fights free of control. It is a great mystery.” The”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“The gilded chairs covered with their worn tapestry were set about stiffly like too many servants with nothing to do.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“[O]nly Colonel Lanser knew what war really is in the long run . . . and he tried not to think what he knew--that war is treachery and hatred, the muddling of incompetent generals, the torture and killing and sickness and tiredness, until at last it is over and nothing has changed except for a new weariness and new hatreds.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat. Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars. You will find that is so, sir.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from The Moon Is Down
“Той харесва това, което прави. Използването на острие е нещо лично. То е гневна постъпка, но също така е акт на удоволствие. Като да убиеш любовница. Единственото по-интимно е да убиваш с голи ръце. С острие убиваш непознатата, която обичаш. Това е знак на уважение, благодарност за смъртта, с която те дарява. - Обгръщам кървавата стая с жест. - Пускането на кръв може да бъде интимно или лично. Кръвта е живот. Режеш непознатата, която обичаш, за да си близо до кръвта, когато започне да тече. Кръвта също така е пътека към смъртта. Източваме кръвта на прасетата по сравнително същия начин. Въпросът е как ги приема той? Като прасета или любовници? Дали са нищо за него, или са всичко?”
― Cody McFadyen, quote from The Face of Death
“Those rocks we stepped over to get here – I’m assuming they go right around your property, yes? What do you need with a protective circle?” Jacob examined him,”
― Derek Landy, quote from Demon Road
“remaining tent to find Cerys alone at the fold-up”
― Angela Marsons, quote from Silent Scream
“Nature forms patterns. Some are orderly in space but disorderly in time, others orderly in time but disorderly in space. Some patterns are fractal, exhibiting structures self-similar in scale. Others give rise to steady states or oscillating ones. Pattern formation has become a branch of physics and of materials science, allowing scientists to model the aggregation of particles into clusters, the fractured spread of electrical discharges, and the growth of crystals in ice and metal alloys. The dynamics seem so basic—shapes changing in space and time—yet only now are the tools available to understand them.”
― James Gleick, quote from Chaos: Making a New Science
“I've got a chainsaw with my name on it in my workshop," Milo told us happily. "If I'm ever killed by undead, I want you guys to chop me up with it. It's a good chainsaw."
"I reckon it is, Milo. I would be honored to chop your head off," Sam said.”
― Larry Correia, quote from Monster Hunter International
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
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