“Perhaps the careful study of man’s past will explain to me much that seems inexplicable in this disconcerting present. Perhaps the mans of salvation are already there, implicit in history, unadvertised, carefully concealed by the war-mongers, only awaiting rediscovery to be acknowledged with enthusiasm by all thinking men and women.”
– Vera Brittain, “Testament of Youth”

“There can be no greater misfortune for a free nation than to find itself under incapable leadership when confronted by a great crisis. This is peculiarly the case when the crisis is not merely one in its own history, but is due to some terrible world cataclysm – such a cataclysm as at this moment has overwhelmed civilization.”
– Teddy Roosevelt, 1916

“We can all turn into savages if we’re given a rifle and an order.”
– Isabele Alende, “a Long Petal of the Sea”

“Methods have changed since your school days, Mr. Harrison.”
“But human nature hasn’t.”
-L.M. Montgomery, “Anne of Avonlea”