Agony Quote by Libba Bray
“He told me that once, in the war, he’d come upon a German soldier in the grass with his insides falling out; he was just lying there in agony. The soldier had looked up at Sergeant Leonard, and even though they didn’t speak the same language, they understood each other with just a look. The German lying on the ground; the American standing over him. He put a bullet in the soldier’s head. He didn’t do it with anger, as an enemy, but as a fellow man, one soldier helping another.”
About This Quote
A soldier shows compassion to an enemy wounded soldier, ending his suffering mercifully rather than vengefully.
In simple terms: Compassion over revenge in war.
Key Takeaway
Show empathy even to foes.
Themes
compassion
war
humanity
Mood
somber
reflective
Type
narrative
philosophical
When to use this quote
- battlefield
- first aid
- combat decision
- psychological coping
Key Concepts
ethics
mortality
empathy
Questions to Reflect On
- What does it mean to see an enemy as a fellow human?
- How can compassion be balanced with duty?
A Different Perspective
Acts of mercy may conflict with military orders.
![“[W]e must learn to accommodate ourselves to the discovery that some of those cunningly-fashioned instruments called human souls have only a very limited range of music, and will not vibrate in the least under a touch that fills others with tremulous rapture or quivering agony.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9be/george-eliot-84_agony_w-e-must-learn-to-accommodate-ourselves_12409.jpg)
