Its two main outside threats, the Turks and the French

Emperor Leopold I was seen mostly as a clumsy but reasonable and mild figure, the antithesis of a war hero, who nevertheless stood between the Empire and its two main outside threats, the Turks and the French. This reputation deviated from the heroic imagery of court spectacle, but was probably nearer to the mark.

J. Duindam, Dynasties: a global history of power (2016), 276-7

Bigger than the combined staffs of the six ministries running the French state

The household serving Louis XIV’s brother, approximately half the size of the king’s own household, was bigger than the combined staffs of the six ministries running the French state at the central level.

Duindam, Dynasties: a global history of power (2016), 224

One obedient slave is better than three hundred sons

One obedient slave is better than three hundred sons; for the latter desire their father’s death, the former his master’s glory.

In Nizam al-Mulk, The Book of Government, ed. H. Drake (1960), XXVII.117.  Cited in J. Duindam, Dynasties: a global history of power (2016), 87)

We are interested only in people who steal because their bellies are full

The master of ceremonies leaped on to the platform and called for silence. He addressed the audience and told them this was a competition for thieves and robbers, real ones - that is, those who had reached international standards. Stories of people braking padlocks in village huts or snatching purses from poor market women were shameful in the eyes of real experts in theft and robbery, and more so when such stories were narrated in front of international thieves and robbers. The foreigners had not travelled all this way to meet people who stole just because they were hungry or needed clothes and jobs. Such petty thieves and robbers were criminals. "Here, in this cave, we are interested only in people who steal because their bellies are full," the master of ceremonies said, patting his stomach.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Devil on the cross (1980. English version 1982), 103

They trot with vigor with two months, then they disintegrate and leave the Model T Ford right in the middle of the road.

I tell you honestly, there is no modern car that can match the Model T Ford construction-wise. Don't simply contrast the gleam of the bodywork. Beauty is not food. The metal from which modern cars are made - models like Peugeots, Toyotas, Canters, even Volvos and Mercedes Benzes - fall to pieces as easily as paper soaked in rain. But not the Model T Ford, oh no! Its metal is the kind that is said to be able to drill holes in other cars. I'd rather keep this old model. A stone hardened by age is never washed away by the rains. A borrowed necklace may cause one to lose one's own. The new models come from Japan, Germany, France, America. They trot with vigor with two months, then they disintegrate and leave the Model T Ford right in the middle of the road.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Devil on the cross (1980. English version 1982), 29-30

I liked Western novels better because of the bitches in them

When I was left home alone, I would put on my mother’s dress and heels and sit on the couch reading Anna Karenina. Society balls, servants, aiguillettes...romantic trysts...I liked everything up to the part when Anna throws herself under the train: What did she do that for? She was beautiful and rich...for love? Not even Tolstoy could convince me...I liked Western novels better because of the bitches in them, the beautiful bitches that men would shoot themselves over and suffer for. Fall at their feet. The last time I cried over unrequited love was when I was seventeen—I spent the whole night in the bathroom with the tap running. My mother consoled me with poems by Pasternak

S. Alexievich, tr. B. Shayevich, Second-hand time (2013), 499

There were no cats in the colony, they couldn’t survive in there because there were no leftovers for them to eat, we would pick up every last crumb

I remember the aroma of a slice of melon that my mother had brought me. It was the size of a button, wrapped in a rag. And how one time, the boys called me over to play with a cat, but I didn’t know what a cat was. The cat had come from the outside, there were no cats in the colony, they couldn’t survive in there because there were no leftovers for them to eat, we would pick up every last crumb. We were always looking under our feet for something to eat. We ate grasses, roots, licked pebbles. We really wanted to give the cat some sort of treat, but we didn’t have anything, so we’d feed it our spit after dinner—and it would eat it! It would!

S. Alexievich, tr. B. Shayevich, Second-hand time (2013), 379

You can’t judge us according to logic. You accountants! You have to understand! You can only judge us according to the laws of religion

You can’t judge us according to logic. You accountants! You have to understand! You can only judge us according to the laws of religion. Faith! Our faith will make you jealous! What greatness do you have in your life? You have nothing. Just comfort. Anything for a full belly...Those stomachs of yours...Stuff your face and fill your house with tchotchkes. But I...my generation...We built everything you have. The factories, the dams, the electric power stations. What have you ever built? And we were the ones who defeated Hitler.

S. Alexievich, tr. B. Shayevich, Second-hand time (2013), 279-80

I would rather live in a weak country where there’s yogurt and good beer

Today it’s the market. So all right, we’ll eat our fill, and then what? When I go into my grandchildren’s room, everything in there is foreign: the shirts, the jeans, the books, the music — even their toothbrushes are imported. Their shelves are lined with empty cans of Coke and Pepsi. Savages! They go to the supermarkets like they’re museums. They think it’s cool, celebrating their birthday at McDonald’s! “Grandpa, we went to Pizza Hut!” Mecca! They ask me, “Did you really believe in communism? How about aliens?” I dreamt of war on the palaces, peace to the cottages—they want to become millionaires. Their friends come over and I overhear them saying things like: “I would rather live in a weak country where there’s yogurt and good beer.”

S. Alexievich, tr. B. Shayevich, Second-hand time (2013), 268

Two coats are enough to last a lifetime, but you can’t live without Pushkin or the complete works of Gorky

My mother wasn’t alone, all of her friends were like this, too—the first generation of Soviet intelligentsia who had grown up on Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, Nekrasov...on Marxism...Could you imagine my mother sitting down and embroidering something or going out of her way to decorate our house with porcelain vases or little elephant figurines...Never! That would be a pointless waste of time. Petit bourgeois nonsense! The most important thing is spiritual labor...Books...You can wear the same suit for twenty years, two coats are enough to last a lifetime, but you can’t live without Pushkin or the complete works of Gorky.

S. Alexievich, tr. B. Shayevich, Second-hand time (2013), 224