Believe Quote by George Saunders
“Vonnegut's war was necessary. And yet it was massacre and screaming and confusion and blood and death. It was the mammoth projection outward of the confused inner life of men. In war, the sad tidy constructs we make to help us believe life is orderly and controllable are roughly thrown aside like the delusions they are. In war, love is outed as an insane, insupportable emotion, a kind of luxury emotion, because everywhere you look, someone beloved to someone is being slaughtered, by someone whose own beloved has been slaughtered, or will be, or could be.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: The War on the Mind, 2015
War shatters our desire for order, exposing love as a fragile, often impractical luxury amid chaos.
In simple terms: War destroys order and makes love seem impossible.
Key Takeaway
Recognize love’s vulnerability in conflict.
Themes
war
love
humanity
chaos
illusion
Mood
somber
reflective
critical
Type
philosophical
analytical
When to use this quote
- discussing war trauma
- examining love in crisis
- teaching resilience
- writing about conflict
Key Concepts
psychology
philosophy
existentialism
Questions to Reflect On
- Can love survive without being a luxury?
- How do we rebuild order after war?
A Different Perspective
The view may overgeneralize love’s role.
![“Either Christ is a liar or war is never necessary, and very properly assuming that Christ told the truth, it follows that the State is without [in the words of Father Macksey] 'judicial authority to determine when war is necessary,' because it is never necessary.” quote by Ben Salmon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1df/ben-salmon-67204_assuming_either-christ-is-a-liar-or-war-is-never_369968.jpg)
