The House of the Spirits

by Isabel Allende

Nevertheless, he could not help thinking of him as one of those fatal men possessed by a dangerous idealism and an intransigent purity that color everything they

touch with disaster, especially the women who have the misfortune to fall in love with them.

You will be on the side

of the winners, but victory will only bring you suffering and loneliness.”

Soldiers are not made to shine in times of peace. The coup gave them a chance to put into practice what they had learned in their barracks: blind obedience, the use of arms, and other skills that soldiers can master once they silence the scruples of their hearts.