One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is just a statistic.
Joseph Stalin*
* Interestingly enough, there is actually no credible evidence of Stalin ever saying this famous quote.
Quotations
First they came…
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a Socialist.Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a Trade Unionist.Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a Jew.Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.
Martin Niemöller
A Fierce Nostalgia For The Present
Looking at those photographs, I remembered how my parents had never said “I love you” to each other. How they had said only “I miss you.” At the time, I hadn’t been able to figure out what this meant. But now it seemed clear: this was how they defined their love—by how deeply they missed each other when they were together. They felt the loss before it happened, and their love was defined by that loss. They hungered even as they ate, thirsted even as they drank. My mother once told me to live my life as if I were already dead. “Live each day as if you know it’s gonna be gone tomorrow,” she had said. That was how my parents loved each other, with a desperate, melancholy love, a fierce nostalgia for the present.
Danzy Senna, Caucasia