Country Quote by Don DeLillo
““Murray said, 'I don't trust anybody's nostalgia but my own. Nostalgia is a product of dissatisfaction and rage. It´s a settling of grievances between the present and the past. The more powerful the nostalgia, the closer you come to violence. War is the form nostalgia takes when men are hard-pressed to say something good about their country.””
About This Quote
Nostalgia reflects personal discontent and can fuel aggression; when collective, it may justify war as an outlet for unresolved grievances.
In simple terms: Nostalgia can become violent when it masks dissatisfaction.
Key Takeaway
Unresolved grievances can turn nostalgia into conflict.
Themes
Nostalgia
Dissatisfaction
Violence
War
Collective Memory
Mood
Reflective
Cautionary
Type
Philosophical
Political
When to use this quote
- Political rhetoric
- Cultural revival movements
- Post‑war societies
Key Concepts
Grievance Settlement
Identity Crisis
Practical Applications
- Analyzing propaganda
- Designing reconciliation programs
Questions to Reflect On
- How does personal nostalgia differ from national myth‑making?
- What mechanisms can prevent nostalgic sentiment from escalating into violence?
![“Until we’re dead, we Service people, the world will always be in danger of another war. We had too good a time in the last one. We’ll none of us come out into the open and admit it. It might be better for us if we did. [...] For our generation, the war years were the best time of our lives, not…” quote by Nevil Shute](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ee4/nevil-shute-16517_time_until-we-re-dead-we-service-people-the-w_262804.jpg)
![“That country [Carthage] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws; and every step of intestine discord was marked by some deplorable victory of savage man over civilized society.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/70c/edward-gibbon-710_barbarism_that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinkin_393.jpg)
