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Cruise ships Quote by Justin Cronin

“Richards remembered the day - that glorious and terrible day - watching the planes slam into the towers, the image repeated in endless loops. The fireballs, the bodies falling, the liquefaction of a billion tons of steel and concrete, the pillowing clouds of dust. The money shot of the new…” quote by Justin Cronin
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““Richards remembered the day - that glorious and terrible day - watching the planes slam into the towers, the image repeated in endless loops. The fireballs, the bodies falling, the liquefaction of a billion tons of steel and concrete, the pillowing clouds of dust. The money shot of the new millennium, the ultimate reality show broadcast 24-7. Richards had been in Jakarta when it happened, he couldn't even remember why. He'd thought it right then; no, he'd felt it, right down to his bones. A pure, unflinching rightness. You had to give the military something to do of course, or they'd all just fucking shoot each other. But from that day forward, the old way of doing things was over. The war - the real war, the one that had been going on for a thousand years and would go on for a thousand thousand more - the war between Us and Them, between the Haves and the Have-Nots, between my gods and your gods, whoever you are - would be fought by men like Richards: men with faces you didn't notice and couldn't remember, dressed as busboys or cab drivers or mailmen, with silencers tucked up their sleeves. It would be fought by young mothers pushing ten pounds of C-4 in baby strollers and schoolgirls boarding subways with vials of sarin hidden in their Hello Kitty backpacks. It would be fought out of the beds of pickup trucks and blandly anonymous hotel rooms near airports and mountain caves near nothing at all; it would be waged on train platforms and cruise ships, in malls and movie theaters and mosques, in country and in city, in darkness and by day. It would be fought in the name of Allah or Kurdish nationalism or Jews for Jesus or the New York Yankees - the subjects hadn't changed, they never would, all coming down, after you'd boiled away the bullshit, to somebody's quarterly earnings report and who got to sit where - but now the war was everywhere, metastasizing like a million maniac cells run amok across the planet, and everyone was in it.””

Justin Cronin

About This Quote

Source Novel: The Passage, Justin Cronin, 2010

The quote portrays a chaotic, all‑encompassing war where ordinary people become combatants, blurring lines between civilian life and conflict, and exposing how power structures drive perpetual violence.

In simple terms: War spreads to everyday life, turning anyone into a soldier.

Key Takeaway

Recognize hidden conflicts and question who benefits.

Themes

conflict society power violence identity

Mood

anxious grim urgent

Type

political reflective critical

When to use this quote

  • urban terrorism
  • homefront resistance
  • covert operations
  • civilian combatants
  • global instability

Key Concepts

asymmetry militarization media influence

Questions to Reflect On

  • Who are the unseen actors shaping conflict?
  • How does ordinary life become a battlefield?
A Different Perspective

The narrative may over‑dramatize, ignoring non‑violent resistance and diplomatic solutions.

4.5 out of 5 (10 ratings)

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