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Year Zero: A History of 1945 - Bilingual quotes that celebrate the beauty of language, showcasing meaningful expressions in two unique perspectives.

Year Zero: A History of 1945 - Bilingual quotes that celebrate the beauty of language, showcasing meaningful expressions in two unique perspectives.

"Year Zero: A History of 1945" by Ian Buruma explores the transformative year of 1945, marking the end of World War II and the beginning of a new global order. The book highlights the chaos and destruction of the war's conclusion, emphasizing the human experiences of individuals across Europe and Asia. Buruma's narrative focuses on the societal changes and the emergence of new political ideologies in response to the devastation.

The author delves into the aftermath of the war, illustrating how various nations grappled with the consequences of their actions. He examines the rise of peace movements, the establishment of the United Nations, and the struggles for independence in colonized regions. Buruma also addresses the conflicting narratives of victors and defeated, shedding light on the complexities of post-war identities.

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Taffy. He thinks about taffy. He thinks it would take his teeth out now, but he would eat it anyhow, if it meant eating it with her.

Small towns are like metronomes; with the slightest flick, the beat changes.

Look, if you say that science will eventually prove there is no God, on that I must differ. No matter how small they take it back, to a tadpole, to an atom, there is always something they can't explain, something that created it all at the end of the search. And no matter how far they try to go the other way – to extend life, play around with the genes, clone this, clone that, live to one hundred and fifty – at some point, life is over. And then what happens? When the life comes to an end? I shrugged. You see? He leaned back. He smiled. When you come to the end, that's where God begins.

You say you should have died instead of me. But during my time on earth, people died instead of me, too. It happens every day. When lightning strikes a minute after you are gone, or an airplane crashes that you might have been on. When your colleague falls ill and you do not. We think such things are random. But there is a balance to it all. One withers, another grows. Birth and death are part of a whole.

we get so many lives between birth and death. A life to be a child. A life to come of age. A life to wander, to settle, to fall in love, to parent, to test our promise, to realize our mortality-and, in some lucky cases, to do something after that realization.

I have the tendency to be nervous at the sight of trouble looming. As the danger draws near, I become less nervous. When the peril is at hand, I swell with fierceness. As I grapple with my assailant, I am without fear and fight to the finish with little thought of injury.

But an ink brush, she thinks, is a skeleton key for a prisoner's mind.

by David Mitchell

There's lying," says Mum, fishing out the envelope she wrote the directions on from her handbag, "which is wrong, and there's creating the right impression, which is necessary.

by David Mitchell

The nun said, I can forgive the language. I'm not sure I can forgive your making an obscene gesture at your mother. Ya gotta know her, Holland said. If you knew her, you'd give her the finger, too.

by John Sandford

Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.

by David Mitchell

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