{"author":"Vasily Grossman","author_id":"Vasily+Grossman","total_quotes":43,"quotes":[{"text":"A mountain had died, its skeleton had been scattered over the ground. Time had aged the mountain; time had killed the mountain-and here lay the mountain's bones.","author":"Vasily Grossman","tags":["mountain"],"id":24905,"author_id":"Vasily+Grossman"},{"text":"There are people whose souls have just withered, people who are willing to go along with anything evil - anything so as not to be suspected of disagreeing with whoever is in power.","author":"Vasily Grossman","tags":["evil","evil-people","hollocaust","nazis"],"id":26505,"author_id":"Vasily+Grossman"},{"text":"I used to think freedom was freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience. But freedom is the whole life of everyone. Here is what it amounts to: you have to have the right to sow what you wish to, to make shoes or coats, to bake into bread the flour ground from the grain you have sown, and to sell it or not sell it as you wish; for the lathe operator, the steelworker, and the artist it’s a matter of being able to live as you wish and work as you wish and not as they order you to. And in our country there is no freedom – not for those who write books nor for those who sow grain nor for those who make shoes.” (Grossman, p. 99) He noted that “In people’s day-to-day struggle to live, in the extreme efforts workers put forth to earn an extra ruble through moonlighting, in the collective farmers’ battle for bread and potatoes as the one and only fruit of their labor, he [Ivan Grigoryevich] could sense more than the desire to live better, to fill one’s children’s stomachs and to clothe them. In the battle for the right to make shoes, to knit sweaters, in the struggle to plant what one wished, was manifested the natural, indestructible striving toward freedom inherent in human nature. He had seen this very same struggle in the people in camp. Freedom, it seemed, was immortal on both sides of the barbed wire.” (Grossman, p. 110).","author":"Vasily Grossman","tags":["freedom"],"id":41048,"author_id":"Vasily+Grossman"},{"text":"The nationalism of a small nation can, with treacherous ease, become detached from its roots in what is noble and human. It then become pitiful, making the nation appear smaller rather than greater. It is the same with nations as with individuals; while trying to draw attention to the inadequacies of others, people all too often reveal their own.","author":"Vasily Grossman","tags":["nationalism","patriotism"],"id":60553,"author_id":"Vasily+Grossman"},{"text":"This kindness, this stupid kindness, is what is most truly human in a human being. It is what sets man apart, the highest achievement of his soul. No, it says, life is not evil!This kindness is both senseless and wordless. It is instinctive, blind. When Christianity clothed it in the teachings of the Church Fathers, it began to fade; its kernel became a husk. It remains potent only while it is dumb and senseless, hidden in the living darkness of the human heart – before it becomes a tool or commodity in the hands of preachers, before its crude ore is forged into the gilt coins of holiness. It is as simple as life itself. Even the teachings of Jesus deprived it of its strength.But, as I lost faith in good, I began to lose faith even in kindness. It seemed as beautiful and powerless as dew. What use was it if it was not contagious?How can one make a power of it without losing it, without turning it into a husk as the Church did? Kindness is powerful only while it is powerless. If Man tries to give it power, it dims, fades away, loses itself, vanishes.","author":"Vasily Grossman","tags":["dew","kindness","metaphor","paradox","powerlessness"],"id":65631,"author_id":"Vasily+Grossman"},{"text":"Jenny lacked any sense of property - she was constantly apologising to Yevgenia and asking for her permission to open the small upper window in order to let in her elderly tabby cat. Her main interests and worries centered around this cat and how to protect it from her neighbors... She fed her own rations to the cat, whom she called 'my dear, silver child' The cat adored her; he was a rough sullen beast, but would become suddenly animated and affectionate when he saw her.","author":"Vasily Grossman","tags":["cat-lady","cats","elderly-women","love","old-woman"],"id":81263,"author_id":"Vasily+Grossman"},{"text":"And it was not merely tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, but hundreds of millions of people who were the obedient witnesses of this slaughter of the innocent. Nor were they merely obedient witnesses: when ordered to, they gave their support to this slaughter, voting in favour of it amid a hubbub of voices. There was something unexpected in their degree of obedience... The extreme violence of the totalitarian social systems proved able to paralyse the human spirit throughout whole continents.","author":"Vasily Grossman","tags":["facism","holocaust","human-nature","stalinism","terror","totalitarianism"],"id":86357,"author_id":"Vasily+Grossman"},{"text":"There is a deep and undeniable sadness in all this: whenever we see the dawn of an eternal good that will never be overcome by evil – an evil that is itself eternal but will never succeed in overcoming good – whenever we see this dawn, the blood of old people and children is always shed.","author":"Vasily Grossman","tags":["history","human-nature","life"],"id":103010,"author_id":"Vasily+Grossman"},{"text":"The longer a nation's history, the more wars, invasions, wanderings, and periods of captivity it has seen-the greater the diversity of its faces.","author":"Vasily Grossman","tags":["diversity","nation"],"id":107803,"author_id":"Vasily+Grossman"},{"text":"Another fact that allowed Fascism to gain power over men was their blindness. A man cannot believe that he is about to be destroyed. The optimism of people standing on the edge of the grave is astounding.","author":"Vasily Grossman","tags":["fascism","optimism","power"],"id":110077,"author_id":"Vasily+Grossman"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":43,"pages":5,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}