I dont believe knowing can save us. What is
constant in history is greed and foolishness and a love of blood and this is a thing that even God—who knows all that can be known—seems powerless to change.

When I was in school I studied biology. I learned that in making their experiments scientists will take some group--bacteria, mice, people--and subject that group to certain conditions. They compare the results with a second group which has not been disturbed. This second group is called the control group. It is the control group which enables the scientist gauge the effect of his experiment. To judge the significance of what has occurred. In history there are no control groups. There is no one to tell us what might have been. We weep over the might have been, but there is no might have been. There never was. It is supposed to be true that those who o not know history are condemned to repeat it. I don't believe knowing can save us. What is constant in history is greed and foolishness and a love of blood and this is a thing that even God--who knows all that can be known--seems powerless to change.

Մարդիկ կարծում եմ, որ շատ ծիծաղելի է, երբ հիմարը չի կարողանում նույն բաներն իրենց պես անել:

... supraoamenilor nu trebuie să li se explice nimic, ei n-au nevoie de permisiunea noastră, smulg vieții ceea ce au chef să ia. Se revoltă, ucid, violează fiindcă se numesc Attila sau Don Juan. Cât despre ceilalți, oamenii medii, cei slabi, turma, trebuie să li se spună adevărul. Să li se spună că sunt muritori, că toată viața vor avea un număr foarte limitat de amanți sau amante, câteva porniri de eroism, câteva revolte minuscule și că, pentru a profita de ea, e mai bine să fie supuși și... proști. Tocmai ceea ce sunt. Atunci le va fi permis să stea în fața televizorului să se uite la meci (bere și alune), pe urmă să-și călărească nevasta, să cumpere călătorii la preț redus prin comitetul lor de întreprindere, să joace la loto, să nu se gândească la moarte, nici la sensul vieții. Căci tocmai ăsta e idealul oricărei societăți care se respectă: să-i asigure cetățeanului statutul unui prost fericit care nu se gândește la sensul vieții.

What kind of society isn't structured on greed? The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm; capitalism is that kind of a system

Sitting there, watching the shades of evening settle slowly on the drab little town, it seemed to me that nothing but blind blundering vengeance, howsoever camouflaged, awaits all those who dare to step out of its stifling confines. It is a confrontation whose outcome is as certain as the end of solitary boats beating against a maelstrom.