Sainté

To see human beings in agony, to see them covered in blood and to hear their death groans, makes people humble. It makes their spirits delicate, bright, peaceful. It's never at such times that we become cruel or bloodthirsty. No, it's on a beautiful spring afternoon like this that people suddenly become cruel. It's at a moment like this, don't you think, while one's vaguely watching the sun as it peeps through the leaves of the trees above a well-mown lawn? Every possible nightmare in the world, every possible nightmare in history, has come into being like this.

“Such ‘cosmic panic’ is basic to every human mind. The species, in this light, seems predestined to destruction, since any effort to preserve and continue life is crippled when one’s undivided attention and energy is required to stave off the catastrophic pressure of one’s inner being.”