"April 1945. My unit was in Germany, and we were the ones who liberated Dachau. Thirty thousands breathing skeletons. You've seen the pictures, but the pictures don't tell you what it was like. You have to go there and smell it for yourself; you have to be there and touch it with your own hands. Human beings did it to human beings, and they did it with a clear conscience. That was the end of mankind I'm sure you've read the stories about how some of them couldn't stop eating. The starved ones. They'd thought about food for so long, they couldn't help it. They ate until their stomachs burst, and they died. Hundreds of them."
React to this quote
More by Paul Auster
See allResonant Thoughts
"There are monasteries where there is no discipline, and which are worse than brothels — ut prae his lupanaria sint et magis sobria et magis pudica. There are others where religion is nothing but ritua…"
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"I can count on one hand how many people I trust."
— Frances Bean Cobain"Stalin was an example of creativity, humanism and an edifying example of peace and heroism! Everything that…"
— Salvador Allende"Divisions are the mark of our time. The truth is that our problem goes deeper than economics or politics. I…"
— Frank Buchman"I can not draw or paint worth a damn, because I can't see it in my head before I do it. I can sculpt and I …"
— Blackie Lawless"When people ask me, I tell them, "Hey don't believe all that mess. We're close and people took it the wrong…"
— Aaliyah"So I read about various aspects of vegetarianism—the scientific aspect, the humane aspect, the ethical aspe…"
— Gordon Latto (doctor)
Related Thinkers
Related Topics
Deep Dives
- Stephen King on Human Nature
- Robert A. Heinlein on Human Nature
- Ernest Hemingway on Human Nature
- Mark Twain on Human Nature
- George Bernard Shaw on Human Nature
- Anton Chekhov on Human Nature
- Virginia Woolf on Human Nature
- Ursula K. Le Guin on Human Nature
- Stephen King on life
- Stephen King on time
- knowledge & Beauty
- knowledge & Change
