Russian Civil War/aftermath

Famous quotes containing the words russian, civil, war and/or aftermath:

    ...I never drink wine ... I keep my hands soft and supple ... I sleep in a soft bed and never over-tire my body. It is because when my hour strikes I must be a perfect instrument. My eyes must be steady, my brain clear, my nerves calm, my aim true. I must be prepared to do my work, successfully if God wills. But if I perish, I perish.
    Lisa, Russian terrorist (anonymous)

    He was high and mighty. But the kindest creature to his slaves—and the unfortunate results of his bad ways were not sold, had not to jump over ice blocks. They were kept in full view and provided for handsomely in his will. His wife and daughters in the might of their purity and innocence are supposed never to dream of what is as plain before their eyes as the sunlight, and they play their parts of unsuspecting angels to the letter.
    —Anonymous Antebellum Confederate Women. Previously quoted by Mary Boykin Chesnut in Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, edited by C. Vann Woodward (1981)

    A nice war is a war where everybody who is heroic is a hero, and everybody more or less is a hero in a nice war. Now this war is not at all a nice war.
    Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)

    The aftermath of joy is not usually more joy.
    Mason Cooley (b. 1927)