No ball bearings, no war

It's terrible to say," Speer said pensively, "but it's better that they're concentrating on the cities." - "What do you mean, Herr Reichsminister?" - "During the summer, when they attacked the Ruhr, I was terrified. In August, they attacked Schweinfurt, where our entire production of ball bearings is concentrated. Then again in October. Our production fell by sixty-seven percent. You may not realise it, Sturmbannfurher, but no ball bearings, no war. If they concentrate on Schweinfurt, we capitulate in two months, three at the most. Here" - he waved his hand at the fires - "they're killing people, wasting all their resources on our cultural monuments." He gave a dry, harsh laugh: "We were going to rebuild everything anyway. Ha!"

J. Littell, The Kindly Ones (2006) tr. C. Mundell, 714

Necessity, as the Greeks knew already, is not only a blind goddess, but a cruel one too.

There was a lot of talk,after the war, in trying to explain what had happened, about inhumanity. But I am sorry, there is no such thing as inhumanity. There is only humanity and more humanity: and that Doll is a good example [a character who was instructed to shoot German wounded because it was too much effort to bring them home] What else was he, Doll, but a good family man who wanted to feed his children, and who obeyed his government, even though in his innermost being he didn't agree? If he has been born in France or America, he'd have been called a pillar of society and a patriot; but he was born in Germany and so he is a criminal. Necessity, as the Greeks knew already, is not only a blind goddess, but a cruel one too.

J. Littell, The Kindly Ones (2006) tr. C. Mundell, 589

We lost land, cities, men; all that can be replaced. But the Party didn't collapse

"We'll fight  to the last man." - "No doubt, but you'll perish all the same. And Stalingrad will remain as the symbol of your defeat. Wrongly, too. In my opinion, you already lost the war last year, when we stopped you in front of Moscow. We lost land, cities, men; all that can be replaced. But the Party didn't collapse, and that was your only hope,

J. Littell, The Kindly Ones (2006) tr. C. Mundell, 396

The custom of drinking a little glass of rich wine with a sweet dish or fruit seems to me a civilized one

The custom of drinking a little glass of rich wine with a sweet dish or fruit seems to me a civilized one, and especially welcome to those who do not or cannot swig brandy or port after a meal. The great dessert wines of Bordeaux and the Rhine are rather beyond the reach or ordinary mortals and are in any case wines that demand a certain ceremony. Your meal has to work up to them. The wine of Beaumes, although so rare, seems somehow more within the scope of the simplest or even of an improvised meal.

E. David, 'Golden Delicious [The Spectator, 10 January 1964]' An omelette and a glass of wine (1984), 84

Large tracts of town property [are] more than Norman blood

Ancestry has never counted for much in England. The English lord knows himself to be such a very genuine article that, when looking for a wife, he can rise above such baubles as sieze quartiers. Kind hearts, in his view, are more than coronets, and large tracts of town property more than Norman blood. He marries for love, and is rather inclined to love were the money is; he rarely marries in order to improve his coat of arms.

N. Mitford, 'The English aristocracy', ed. N. Mitford, Noblesse Oblige (1956), 45