--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: How soon, sugar, the terrible becomes…" description: "\"“How soon, sugar, the terrible becomes routine. We've all got this dangerous built-in talent: for turning horrors into errands. You hear folks wonder h..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a3/allan-gurganus-29322_extermination_how-soon-sugar-the-terrible-becomes-rout_2689794.jpg" --- # How soon, sugar, the terrible becomes routine. We've all… ![“How soon, sugar, the terrible becomes routine. We've all got this dangerous built-in talent: for turning horrors into errands. You hear folks wonder how the Germans could have done it? I believe part of the answer is: They made extermination be a nine-to-five activity. You know, salaries? Lunch…” quote by Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a3/allan-gurganus-29322_extermination_how-soon-sugar-the-terrible-becomes-rout_2689794.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a3/allan-gurganus-29322_extermination_how-soon-sugar-the-terrible-becomes-rout_2689794.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a3/allan-gurganus-29322_extermination_how-soon-sugar-the-terrible-becomes-rout_2689794.jpg) > ““How soon, sugar, the terrible becomes routine. We've all got this dangerous built-in talent: for turning horrors into errands. You hear folks wonder how the Germans could have done it? I believe part of the answer is: They made extermination be a nine-to-five activity. You know, salaries? Lunch breaks? And the staff came and did their job and went home and ate supper and slept and woke and came back and did their job and went home and ate their supper and slept and woke and came back and did their job. --That's partly how you get anything done, especially a chore what's dreadful, dreadful. -- Honey? we've all got to be real careful of what we can get used to.”” [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Routine can desensitize us to horror, turning atrocities into ordinary tasks, as seen in bureaucratic execution of evil. **In simple terms:** Everyday work can normalize terrible acts. Key Takeaway Stay vigilant against normalizing cruelty. Themes morality routine evil Mood somber critical Type reflective analytical When to use this quote - workplace culture - military training - government policy - education programs Key Concepts social psychology history Questions to Reflect On - How does routine mask moral responsibility? - What can break the cycle of normalized cruelty? 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In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bianca-balti/it-s-very-different-the-european-way-of-working-and-the-american-way/) [Bianca Balti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bianca-balti/) > [“Here was the bottom line: if we human beings are information processing machines, reading X's and O's and translating that information into what people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-egan/here-was-the-bottom-line-if-we-human-beings-are-information/) [Jennifer Egan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-egan/) > [Just in any job, if you want to get ahead, take shorter lunch breaks, be happy to stay later, do the work, and finish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-rinehart/just-in-any-job-if-you-want-to-get-ahead-take-shorter-lunch-breaks-be/) [Gina Rinehart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-rinehart/) > [Okay," Claire finally said. "I admit, he has significant ninja qualities." "Booyah. I will summon the ninja. 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Awesome.” Percy was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/percy-and-hedge-lay-on-the-deck-looking-exhausted-hedge-was-missing/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) ## More by Allan Gurganus > [Without much accuracy, with strangely little love at all, your family will decide for you exactly who you are, and they'll keep nudging, coaxing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/without-much-accuracy-with-strangely-little-love-at-all-your-family/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [“The tree feels splintery, nasty to my touch; it feels Floridian, more reptile than vegetable, more stucco than stone. I do loathe this state,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/the-tree-feels-splintery-nasty-to-my-touch-it-feels-floridian-more/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [Writing is a kind of free fall that you then go back and edit and shape.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/writing-is-a-kind-of-free-fall-that-you-then-go-back-and-edit-and/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [Know something, sugar? Stories only happen to people who can tell them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/know-something-sugar-stories-only-happen-to-people-who-can-tell-them/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [You know, right often, the body is the best thing we’ve got going for us. A body itself is a shiny object. Something!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/you-know-right-often-the-body-is-the-best-thing-we-ve-got-going-for/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [“He, the true writer, is the department store dummy at the very center of the whole establishment, the one left alone on display all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/he-the-true-writer-is-the-department-store-dummy-at-the-very-center/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [“Lord-Express have mercy on our stop-making, stuttering local. Place me expressly beyond these stares, past such terrible embarrassment. I say I do not feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/lord-express-have-mercy-on-our-stop-making-stuttering-local-place-me/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [“The chances of achieving literary performance are, to the decimal point, the odds against becoming fully human. That means one hundred and fifty million…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/the-chances-of-achieving-literary-performance-are-to-the-decimal/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [“Imagine how titanic an echo chamber this great city would seem without the noise of eve none of mine. A huge bronze bell deprived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/imagine-how-titanic-an-echo-chamber-this-great-city-would-seem/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [There's a kind of ear music . . . a rhythmic synchronicity which creates a kind of heartbeat on the page.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/there-s-a-kind-of-ear-music-a-rhythmic-synchronicity-which-creates-a/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [You have a different kind of tenderness for everybody you know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/you-have-a-different-kind-of-tenderness-for-everybody-you-know/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [“We'd die here, old together, safe with each other's secrets. We were each other's juvenilia”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/we-d-die-here-old-together-safe-with-each-other-s-secrets-we-were/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [“Fifteen, that’s the age when the only world event that counts is whatever mood you’re in that day.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/fifteen-that-s-the-age-when-the-only-world-event-that-counts-is/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [I think Walt Whitman went to the help wanted section and found a squib that said "Wanted: National Poet." And he was innocent enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/i-think-walt-whitman-went-to-the-help-wanted-section-and-found-a/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) > [Beware of using up your last forty years in being the curator of your first fifty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-gurganus/beware-of-using-up-your-last-forty-years-in-being-the-curator-of-your/) [Allan Gurganus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) [Explore all 18 Allan Gurganus quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-gurganus/) ## More Extermination quotes > [In the name of Jerusalem. If I forget the extermination of the Jews, may my right hand wither, may my tongue stick to my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/menachem-begin/in-the-name-of-jerusalem-if-i-forget-the-extermination-of-the-jews/) [Menachem Begin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/menachem-begin/) > [We need not fear the judgement of history. Who, after all, speaks today of the extermination of the Armenians?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/we-need-not-fear-the-judgement-of-history-who-after-all-speaks-today/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [The Indian is but a sketch in red crayon of a rudimental manhood. To the problem of his relation to the white race, there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-indian-is-but-a-sketch-in-red-crayon-of-a-rudimental-manhood-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Jews were segregated from 1933 on. We could only play against other Jewish teams. This wasn't just social segregation; this was the beginning of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-a-kissinger/jews-were-segregated-from-1933-on-we-could-only-play-against-other/) [Henry A. Kissinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-a-kissinger/) > [And now the forces marshaled around the concept of the group have declared a war of extermination on that preciousness, the mind of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/and-now-the-forces-marshaled-around-the-concept-of-the-group-have/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [I really wanted to take the viewer to the 'here and now' regarding the exterminations, and communicate directly in a visceral way. The art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laszlo-nemes/i-really-wanted-to-take-the-viewer-to-the-here-and-now-regarding-the/) [Laszlo Nemes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laszlo-nemes/) > [ The text \[The Skeptical Environmentalist\] employs the strategy of those who, for example, argue ...that Jews weren't singled out by the Nazis for extermination. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stuart-l-pimm/the-text-the-skeptical-environmentalist-employs-the-strategy-of-those/) Stuart L. Pimm > [MAN, n. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/man-n-an-animal-so-lost-in-rapturous-contemplation-of-what-he-thinks/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [I have given orders to my Death units to exterminate without mercy or pity men, women and children belonging to the Polish speaking race...After…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/i-have-given-orders-to-my-death-units-to-exterminate-without-mercy-or/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [If one looks into the genealogies of many 'old families,' one discovers episodes of slave trafficking, bootlegging, gun running, opium trading, falsified land claims,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-parenti/if-one-looks-into-the-genealogies-of-many-old-families-one-discovers/) [Michael Parenti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-parenti/) > [If the German nation wants to end a state of affairs that threatens its extermination in Europe, it must not fall into the error…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/if-the-german-nation-wants-to-end-a-state-of-affairs-that-threatens/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [I hate the poor and look forward eagerly to their extermination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/i-hate-the-poor-and-look-forward-eagerly-to-their-extermination/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Only the power of unbounded love practiced in regard to all human beings can defeat the forces of interhuman strife, and can prevent the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pitirim-sorokin/only-the-power-of-unbounded-love-practiced-in-regard-to-all-human/) [Pitirim Sorokin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pitirim-sorokin/) > [The world is going mad in mutual extermination, and murder, considered as a crime when committed individually, becomes a virtue when it is committed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cyprian/the-world-is-going-mad-in-mutual-extermination-and-murder-considered/) [Cyprian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cyprian/) > [“Extermination of city could be prevented by presence of a few who have faith of God.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toba-beta/extermination-of-city-could-be-prevented-by-presence-of-a-few-who/) [Toba Beta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toba-beta/) Browse all 82 Extermination quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“How soon, sugar, the terrible becomes routine. 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