Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil:
Every age has its own, divine type of naivety that other ages may envy…
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Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace:
They talked of peace but did not believe in its possibility; others talked of a battle but also disbelieved in the nearness of an engagement.
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Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914:
The key decision-makers – kings, emperors, foreign ministers, ambassadors, military commanders and a host of lesser officials – walked towards danger in watchful, calculated steps. The outbreak of war was the culmination of chains of decisions made by political actors with conscious objectives, who were capable of a degree of self-reflection, acknowledged a range of options and formed the best judgements they could on the basis of the best information they had to hand.
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Lawrence Freedman, Strategy: A History:
The dramatist knows from the start whether she is writing comedy or a tragedy: the strategist aims for comedy but risks tragedy.
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Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday:
And what did the people as a whole know about war in 1914, after almost half-a-century of peace? They had no idea what it was like, they had hardly ever thought of it. War was a legend, and its distance in time from them made it seem heroic and romantic.
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Albert Camus, The Rebel:
The climax of every tragedy lies in the deafness of its heroes.
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Karl Jaspers, Tragedy is Not Enough:
…in tragedy we experience fundamental reality made plain, as things break wide open in shipwreck.
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Innokenty Annensky, ‘Nightmares’:
You are waiting? You are nervous? This
Is delirium. You are going to open up
To him? No! Understand this: a madman
Is knocking at your door; God knows where
And with whom he has spent the entire
Night, ragged, and his speech wild,
And his hand full of pebbles; at any moment he
Will empty the other hand, he will pelt you with
Dry leaves, or he will think of kissing you, and
Traces of tears will be left in the tangle of
Plaits, if you succeed in hiding your face
From his lips, confused and painfully crimson.
. . . . .
Listen!.. I was only scaring you: That one
Is far away, he is dead... I lied.