As the Americans slaughter millions of turkeys every year for the celebration of their deliverance, the Indians, who should be celebrated as saviors, have long been slaughtered. There was even a time when a white man was paid a very decent price for every Indian scalp he could produce.
Friedrich DurrenmattA major power can afford a military debacle only when it looks like a political victory.
Friedrich DurrenmattWhat the world needs is not redemption from sin but redemption from hunger and oppression; it has no need to pin its hopes upon Heaven, it has everything to hope for from this earth.
Friedrich DurrenmattRevolutions demand enormous sacrifices and, at the same time, create a new need to change the world again.
Friedrich DurrenmattTo not be afraid in our world is the message that doesn't derive from reason, but maybe from this mysterious capacity given to humans which we call--not without a little embarrassment--faith.
Friedrich DurrenmattThere is a moment when nothing can be wiped out and left behind any more, when there is only reality and reality is horrifying.
Friedrich DurrenmattPolitics at all times lead to bloody wars, and not only politics, but also religions as well as social and economic systems of alltimes are spattered with blood. Invariably the big ones devoured the little ones, and the little ones the tiny ones.
Friedrich DurrenmattWe are not cave dwellers anymore, we live in the age of technology. When someone needs a car, he does not need to build it. He can buy it. When someone needs a murder, he himself does not need to kill. He can order it.
Friedrich DurrenmattWhoever is content with the world, and who profits from its lack of justice, does not want to change it.
Friedrich DurrenmattThere is also a reasonable tolerance: reason tolerates the reasonable. It is, however, almost tautological to call this 'tolerance' any longer, as it becomes a matter of course.
Friedrich DurrenmattRome has betrayed itself. It knew the truth and chose violence, it knew humaneness and it chose tyranny.
Friedrich DurrenmattBefore anything else, we need a new age of Enlightenment. Our present political systems must relinquish their claims on truth, justice and freedom and have to replace them with the search for truth, justice, freedom and reason.
Friedrich DurrenmattThe difference between humans and wild animals is that humans pray before they commit murder.
Friedrich DurrenmattIn this country, you never pull the emergency brake, even when there is an emergency. It is imperative that the trains run on schedule.
Friedrich DurrenmattAbove all, be suspicious of your fatherland. Nobody is more inclined to become a murderer than a fatherland.
Friedrich DurrenmattIt is bad luck for world history that of all people the Russians adopted Communism, because they are totally unfit for it.
Friedrich DurrenmattPrior to the meeting, there was a prayer. In general, in the United States there was always praying.
Friedrich DurrenmattI am a man, and God is hiding from us humans. We are unable to see Him, we can only search for Him
Friedrich DurrenmattNews reports don't change the world. Only facts change it, and those have already happened when we get the news.
Friedrich Durrenmatt