A great blunder in a minor battle can produce the effect that carries on for centuries. Human history has always been a web of dramas, where intelligence can discern nothing. It ends mostly in utter chaos.
“By choosing Christianity rather than Islam, Volodymyr cast Rus’s ambitions for ever in Europe rather than Asia, and by taking Christianity from Byzantium rather than Rome he bound the future Russians, Ukrainians and Belarussians together in Orthodoxy, fatally dividing them from their Catholic neighbours the Poles.”
― Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine
― Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine
“I think television with two channels - one on a political speech, on the other a Russian film -- must be the cheapest and most inhuman means to effectively make people stupid.”
― Truck Stop Rainbows
― Truck Stop Rainbows
“I've never collected souvenirs. But if I could, I'd save the white of beautiful nights in a little pouch on my chest, the way Indians keep the scents of the prairie.”
― Truck Stop Rainbows
― Truck Stop Rainbows
“A totalitarian regime thus has one political party, one educational system, one artistic creed, one centrally planned economy, one unified media, and one moral code. In a totalitarian state there are no independent schools, no private businesses, no grassroots organizations, and no critical thought.”
― Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956
― Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956
Bryan’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Bryan’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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