― Bertolt Brecht (Source: andieapple)
“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate. He hears nothing, sees nothing, takes no part in political life. He doesn’t seem to know that the cost of living, the price of beans, of flour, of rent, of medicine, all depend on political decisions. He even prides himself on his political ignorance, sticks out his chest and says he hates politics. He doesn’t know, the imbecile, that from his political non-participation comes the prostitute, the abandoned child, the robber and, worst of all, the corrupt official.”
Joseph Brodsky, Watermark (1993)
“The soldiers expected to be hurt, perhaps badly hurt; they expected the deafening– so close to their ears! –sound of a shot. And they squinted. Because the human repertoire of responses is so limited! What was coming to them was death, not pain; yet their bodies couldn’t distinguish one from the other.”
