How do you lose a word? Does it vanish into your memory, like an old toy in a cupboard, and lie hidden in the cobwebs and dust, waiting to be cleaned out or rediscovered?
Amitav GhoshRead
What would it be like if I had something to defend - a home, a country, a family - and I found myself attacked by these ghostly men, these trusting boys? How do you fight an enemy who fights with neither enmity nor anger but in submission to orders from superiors, without protest and without conscience?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the moral complexities of confronting an enemy who lacks personal animosity or conscience.
Amitav Ghosh's quote delves into the ethical dilemmas faced when opposing forces that are devoid of personal hatred and instead act out of obligation. It raises profound questions about the nature of conflict and the psychological detachment of individuals who carry out orders without espousing their own beliefs or feelings, highlighting the challenges in dealing with such a faceless adversary.
Themes
ConflictMoralityEnemyWarObedience
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker addressing a peace rally might use this quote to highlight the complexities of modern warfare.
More from Amitav Ghosh
All quotes →If the charter of your liberties entails death and despair for untold multitudes, then it is nothing but a license for slaughter.
Amitav GhoshRead
I know nothing of this silence except that it lies outside the reach of my intelligence, beyond words - that is why this silence must win, must inevitably defeat me, because it is not a presence at all.
Amitav GhoshRead
Similar quotes
Property is not the sacred right. When a rich man becomes poor it is a misfortune, it is not a moral evil. When a poor man becomes destitute, it is a moral evil, teeming with consequences and injurious to society and morality.
John Dalberg-ActonRead
Every global concern - economic, environmental or security-related - can be addressed more effectively when the U.S. and China work together.
Henry PaulsonRead
The few surviving Armenians no longer ask to go home. They do not ask for restitution. They ask simply to have the memory of their obliteration acknowledged. It is a moral obsession, the lonely legacy passed onto the third and fourth generation who no longer speak Armenian but who carry within them the seeds of resentment that will not be quashed.
Chris HedgesRead
On the streets of the city They have taken my Who-I-Am As well as my What-I-Was And now I am desperate for them both Again
Walter Dean MyersRead
And I ask why am I black, they say I was born in sin, and shamed inequity. One of the main songs we used to sing in church makes me sick, 'love wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
Peter ToshRead
All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones. In my opinion, there never was a good war or a bad peace. When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration?
Benjamin FranklinRead