“‘Keep calm,’ they said on television, ‘everything is under control.’ I was stunned. Everyone was, I know that. It was hard to believe the entire government gone like that. How did they get in? How did it happen? That was when they suspended the constitution. They said it would be temporary, there wasn’t even any rioting in the streets, people stayed at home at night, watching television, waiting for some direction. There wasn’t even an enemy you could put a finger on.” Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale

“The object of terrorism is terrorism. The object of oppression is oppression. The object of torture is torture. The object of murder is murder. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?” George Orwell, 1984

“Because civilization isn’t a thing that you build and then there it is, you have it forever. It needs to be built constantly; re-created daily. It vanishes far more quickly than he ever would have thought possible.”   Steven Galloway, The Cellist of Sarajevo

“Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. ‘It isn’t fair,’ she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head. Old Man Warner was saying, ‘Come on, come on, everyone.’ Steve Adams was in the front of the crowd of villagers, with Mrs. Graves beside him. ‘It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,’ Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.”   Shirley Jackson, The Lottery