Liam

“Reason as motive, or reason as logic, or reason as a way of life?”
― John le Carré, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

“You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about.
War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it … Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth — right at your doors.
You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail.”
― William T. Sherman

“Wooden-headedness, the source of self-deception, is a factor that plays a remarkably large role in government. It consists in assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts. It is epitomized in a historian’s statement about Philip II of Spain, the surpassing wooden-head of all sovereigns: “No experience of the failure of his policy could shake his belief in its essential excellence.”
― Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam

“Once not so very long ago
Sweet alcohol that beast,
Brought warmth and sweetness to our lives,
But then the price increased.
And so cocaine and morphine
Berliners now select.
Let lightning flashes rage outside
We snort and we inject! ...

At dinner in the restaurant
The waiter brings the tin
Of coke for us to feast upon —
Forget whisky and gin!
Let drowsy morphine take its
Subcutaneous effect
Upon our nervous system —
We snort and we inject!

These medications aren't allowed,
Of course, they're quite forbidden.
But even such illicit treats
Are very seldom hidden.
Euphoria awaits us
And though, as we suspect,
Our foes can't wait to shoot us down,
We snort and we inject!

And if we snort ourselves to death
Or into the asylum,
Our days are going downhill fast —
How better to beguile 'em?
Europe's a madhouse anyway,
No need for genuflecting;
The only way to Paradise
Is snorting and injecting!”
― Norman Ohler, Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany