“there is no collective guilt,...guilt is individual, like salvation." [p.28]”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
“To understand everything is to forgive everything.”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
“People had Jewish friends, good friends; Jewish employers, good employers; Jewish employees, hard workers. They obeyed the laws, they didn’t hurt anyone. And here was Hitler saying they were to blame for everything. ‘So when the vans came and took them away, people didn’t do anything. They stayed out of the way, they kept quiet. They even got to believing the voice that shouted the loudest. Because that’s the way people are, particularly the Germans. We’re a very obedient people. It’s our greatest strength and our greatest weakness. It enables us to build an economic miracle while the British are on strike, and it enables us to follow a man like Hitler into a great big mass grave.”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
“When one can understand the people, their gullibility and their fear, their greed and their lust for power, their ignorance and their docility to the man who shouts the loudest, one can forgive.”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
“the SS had made the two initials of its name, and the twin-lightning symbol of its standard, synonymous with inhumanity in a way that no other organisation before or since has been able to do.”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
“one can forgive even what they did. But one can never forget.”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
“There are some men whose crimes surpass comprehension and therefore forgiveness, and here is the real failure. For they are still among us,”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
“I understand so far,’ said Miller. ‘But why a passport? Why not a driving licence, or an ID card?’ ‘Because shortly after the founding of the republic the German authorities realised there must be hundreds or thousands wandering about under false names. There was a need for one document that was so well researched that it could act as the yardstick for all the others. They hit on the passport. Before you get a passport in Germany, you have to produce the birth certificate, several references and a host of other documentation. These are thoroughly checked before the passport is issued. ‘By contrast, once you have a passport, you can get anything else on the strength of it. Such is bureaucracy. The production of the passport convinces the civil servant that, since previous bureaucrats must have checked out the passport holder thoroughly, no further checking is necessary. With a new passport, Roschmann could quickly build up the rest of the identity – driving licence, bank accounts, credit cards. The passport is the open sesame to every other piece of necessary documentation in present-day Germany.”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
“It is always tempting to wonder what would have happened if … or if not. Usually it is a futile exercise, for what might have been is the greatest of all the mysteries.”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
“I have spent twenty years trying to understand the look in her eyes. Was it love or hatred, contempt or pity, bewilderment or understanding? I shall never know.”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
“there was no such thing as collective guilt. But we Germans have been told for twenty years that we are all guilty. Do you believe that?”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
“The specific murderers of the SS therefore hide even today behind the collective guilt theory.”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
“But the words did not come. They never do, when one needs them.”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
“To understand everything is to forgive everything.’ When one can understand the people, their gullibility and their fear, their greed and their lust for power, their ignorance and their docility to the man who shouts the loudest, one can forgive. Yes, one can forgive even what they did. But one can never forget. There”
― Frederick Forsyth, quote from The Odessa File
Frederick Forsyth
Born place: in Ashford, Kent, England, The United Kingdom
Born date August 25, 1938
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“Alex was right in front of the mantel now, bent forward, his nose mere inches from a picture of me.
"Oh,God. Don't look at that!"
It was from the year-end recital of my one and only year of ballet class. I was six: twig legs, a huge gap where my two front teeth had recently been, and a bumblebee costume. Nonna had done her best, but there was only so much she could do with yellow and black spandex and a bee butt. Dad had found one of those headbands with springy antennai attached. I'd loved the antennae. The more enthusiastic my jetes, the more they bounced. Of course, I'd also jeted my flat-chested little self out of the top of my costume so many times that, during the actual recital itself,I'd barely moved at all, victim to the overwhelming modesty of the six-year-old. Now, looking at the little girl I'd been, I wished someone had told her not to worry so much, that within a year, that smooth, skinny, little bare shoulder would have turned into the bane of her existence. That she was absolutely perfect.
"Nice stripes," Alex said casually, straightening up.
That stung. It should't have-it was just a photo-but it did. I don't know what I'd expected him to say about the picture. It wasn't that. But then, I didn't expect the wide grin that spread across his face when he got a good look at mine, either.
"Those," he announced, pointing to a photo of my mulleted dad leaning against the painted hood of his Mustang "are nice stripes. That-" he pointed to the me-bee- "Is seriously cute."
"You're insane," I muttered, insanely pleased.
"Yeah,well, tell me something I don't know." He took the bottle and plate from me. "I like knowing you have a little vanity in there somewhere." He stood, hands full, looking expectant and completely beautiful.
The reality of the situation hadn't really been all that real before. Now, as I started up the stairs to my bedroom, Alex Bainbridge in tow, it hit me. I was leading a boy, this boy, into my very personal space.
Then he started singing.
"You're so vain, I bet you think this song is about you. You're sooo vain....!" He had a pretty good voice. It was a truly excellent AM radio song.
And just like that, I was officially In Deep”
― Melissa Jensen, quote from The Fine Art of Truth or Dare
“When hands of hate turn dark and tragic, Virtue makes for more than magic. Ever since the world was new, They rise, always, a worthy few. When tyrants fill the land with death, And innocents draw in final breath, Warriors noble step from shadow, With powers hidden, end the battle, Committed to win, to do what they must, Defending good hope against the unjust: In spite of danger, doom, and doubt, Before these few, darkness burns out. This timeless history is beget To show how light with darkness met: Their legacy may not be seen, But we recall wits and weapons keen That warriors sharpen and apply, By courage and talent live and die. And so hope we have, in darkest night: The good find a way, and a means, and light.”
― Kyle Timmermeyer, quote from Reintroduction
“I want to want to try to never waste energy degrading someone else. Also, I want to try not to see life as a competition.”
― Ethan Hawke, quote from The Hottest State
“Yet simplification is not just about taking things away. It is about making room, creating space in your life, your intentions, and your heart.”
― quote from Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids
“A woman needs to feel safe in love. She needs to know her husband accepts everything about her and still loves her. To be known through and through, including the failures of her past, the shortcomings of her character, and still be loved, that's the Promised Land of a woman's heart! That's where she finds rest.”
― Tessa Afshar, quote from Pearl in the Sand
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