Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
You do not realize that in public life a man must use his reason rather than give way to his emotions. If we try to dissuade the rebels now they will kill us before they kill the English, and then they will kill the King.”
William Dalrymple • The Last Mughal
Stuart Milner-Barry, one of the Hut 6 cryptanalysts, wrote: “I do not imagine that any war since classical times, if ever, has been fought in which one side read consistently the main military and naval intelligence of the other.”
Simon Singh • The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
Conner loaned Eisenhower three works of historical fiction—The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (of Sherlock Holmes fame), The Long Roll by Mary Johnston (granddaughter of Confederate General Joseph Johnston), and The Crisis by American author Winston Churchill (no relation to the more famous Briton of the same name.)
Steven Rabalais • General Fox Conner: Pershing's Chief of Operations and Eisenhower's Mentor (The Generals Book 3)
What is of value in “England” and “America” and worth defending is its tradition of freedom—the guarantee of its vitality. Our civilization, like the Greek, has, for all its blundering way, taught the value of freedom, of criticism of authority—and of harmonizing this with order. Anyone who urges a different system, for efficiency's sake, is betray
... See moreB.H. Liddell Hart • Why Don't We Learn from History?
As Aeschylus, the illustrious Greek tragedian, noted in the fifth century B.C., “In war, truth is the first casualty.”
Jon Krakauer • Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman
Churchill also recognized that a Jewish home in Palestine already existed on the ground without any help from the British:
Alan Dershowitz • The Case for Israel
Roosevelt had “countervailing qualities of a rare and inspiring order.” [H]e was large-hearted and possessed wide political horizons, imaginative sweep, understanding of the time in which he lived and of the direction of the great new forces at work in the twentieth century—technological, racial, imperialist, anti-imperialist; he was in favour of l
... See moreJohn Lewis Gaddis • On Grand Strategy
The twin Pacific campaigns were long and brutal, and it’s telling that many veterans of the war who went on to political greatness earned their spurs in them. John F. Kennedy got shipwrecked in the Solomons (an island there is named after him). Lyndon Baines Johnson won a Silver Star, personally given by MacArthur, for “gallantry” as an observer in
... See moreDaniel Immerwahr • How to Hide an Empire
“Never fear Mister Barter sir, we ain’t agoing to turn.” And on they went quietly closing up the gap made by their fallen comrades.