Life Or Death Quotes

Many things look like life or death at four a.m.,' she said. 'They generally look better in their day clothes. ~ Sheila Turnage

I'll tell you what. I've been in combat. I've seen it, I've been close to it ... and if my unit is danger, and I've got a captured guy, and the guy knows where the enemy is, and I'm looking him in the eye, the guy better tell me. That's all I'm gonna tell you. The guy better tell me. If it's life or death, he's going first. ~ Bill O'Reilly

You have to remember one life, one death–this one! To enter fully the day, the hour, the moment whether it appears as life or death, whether we catch it on the inbreath or outbreath, requires only a moment, this moment. And along with it all the mindfulness we can muster, and each stage of our ongoing birth, and the confident joy of our inherent luminosity. (24) ~ Stephen Levine

Banquo asked me how it felt to be alive when I saw so many of my comrades dead or dying, and I said that I had ceased to think of life or death because it seemed that I was destined to serve out the sentence of one for having delivered so well of the other, and that I saw the dead every night before I went to sleep as though they were still alive and standing before me. ~ Andrew Krivak

Humans are about to grasp basic substances of all creations.
When that moment comes, life or death are no longer matters. ~ Toba Beta

Somewhere along the way these countries [EU] redefined the relationship between government and citizen into something closer to pusher and addict. And, once you've done that, it's very hard to persuade the addict to cut back his habit. Thus, the general acceptance everywhere but America is that the state should run your health care. A citizen of an advanced democracy expects to be able to choose from dozens of breakfast cereals, hundreds of movies at the video store, and millions of porno sites on the Internet, but when it comes to life-or-death decisions about his own body he's happy to have the choice taken out of his hands and given to the government. ~ Mark Steyn

It's not life or death it's a game and at the end of the game there is going to be a winner and a loser. ~ Bernhard Langer

Sometimes people feel they need to control everything, as if they could! Matters of life and death are out of your hands. The more you come to realize this, the harder you try to prove that you can control SOMETHING, anything. All you can really control is your response to what happens. You cannot control matters of life or death and because of this you are not accountable. You cannot be held liable for anything that you have no power over. Guilt, shame and blame make no sense when circumstances are beyond your control. ~ Kate McGahan

When the choice is life-or-death, you can't choose rationally. No one can. So let us decide for you. ~ K. Weikel

I think sports media really do need to think about the world in more humble terms. Not everything is the game of the century, and not everything is life or death. ~ Tim Tebow

The only saving faith is that which casts itself on God for life or death. ~ Martin Luther

~Here's to kick-offs, goals, assists, shootouts, livin' on the road, the smell of wet grass, early mornings, breakaways, crossbar shots, countless hours of practice, Nike cleats, , shin pads, big passes, loud chanting, new equipment, sniping shots, corner kicks, coaches, passion in our numbers, living with your team mates, the girls you trust become your second family, pick up, fights, let downs, miracles. Some people say soccer's a matter of life or death, but it isn't, it's much more then that, and most of all – the best game in the world, our passion, our life, our future, our love, our game .. SOCCER.~ ~ Anonymise

Therefore if we realize that our nature and destiny are what they should be, we will have no anxiety and will be at ease with ourselves in the face of life or death, prominence or obscurity, or an infinite amount of changes and variations, and will be in accord with principle. ~ Guo Xiang

A tip for increased sales or in situations of life or death: Try to always refer to the lady as Miss. or Ms. Using the term: Ma'am could piss her off. ~ Ginnetta Correli

You have to hit it," she told herself. "This could be life or death." She positioned her rifle and made herself comfortable on the rock. Chief had disappeared. A hawk screed high overhead. She ~ Lauraine Snelling

When eating becomes a matter of life or death, and each new bite is a celebration, you may discover that none of the other stuff was quite as important as sitting and breaking bread together. ~ Bee Wilson

And he would be gone. Whatever he was made of--stardust or ash or life or death--would be gone. Not with a bang, but with a whimper. In with gunfire and out with smoke. And August wasn't ready to Dolly. Even if surviving wasn't simple, or easy, or fair.. Even if he could never be human. He wanted a chance to matter. He wanted to live. ~ Victoria Schwab

Begger or rich man, soldier or merchant, Rufus was indestructible, for the man who could laugh at life or death was in the end the only conqueror. ~ Rosemary Anne Sisson

In World War II, some Japanese soldiers preferred to take their own lives rather become prisoners of war. In Saipan hundreds of civilians jumped to their deaths over cliffs in order to avoid falling into American hands. Even in life-or-death situations cultural ties and duties often outweigh the instinct for survival. This is why people die in the attempt to rescue a dog from drowning, or decide to become suicide bombers. ~ Harald Welzer

You've got all these people making action movies, and they've never been in a life-or-death situation. ~ Richard Stanley

A Gallagher Girl's real grades don't come in pass or fail - they're measured in life or death. ~ Ally Carter

Nothing could keep me from you. Nothing in life or Death... ~ Jonathan Stroud

These children had never looked death in the face and then chosen to live anyway. ~ Orson Scott Card

Freedom is about life or death, I would rather die fighting for it than die running away from the oppressor ~ Peter Mutanda

Sometimes, love feels like a life or death situation. Losing true love is pretty much as bad as it gets, other than actually dying or losing good health. Most people know that. Most people can relate. It's like the end of the world. ~ Lana Del Rey

God knows our despair. God wants His chosen people to live in peace. God loves life, cares less about death. We need to live. I want to live, I want my children to live. Everyone I know wants to live. You have to ask yourself what is more important to you, life is death. What is this world about - life or death? ~ Aleksandar Hemon

I don't have the desire that I think a lot of performers feel - to get the applause. It's not life or death for me. I love it and it's exciting, but it's not something I crave or miss, so I don't need to perform; I don't have that desire. I like to sing, and I love doing what I'm doing, but it's not a dire need. ~ Olivia Newton-John

I made a ridiculous statement when I first went to North Carolina State. I said I know basketball down there was like life or death. It was very wrong. It's more important. ~ Jim Valvano

Our emotions are different but we have them. We never cast a cold eye on life or death. Don't misunderstand our seeming serenity. After all, we live in a world of perfect trust in The Maker, and we are keenly aware that humans often do not, and we feel an active sorrow for them. ~ Anne Rice

The day will come when all nations amidst which the Jews are dwelling will have to raise the question of their wholesale expulsion, a question which will be one of life or death, good health or chronic disease, peaceful existence or perpetual social fever. ~ Franz Liszt

They are the typical product of the structure of the German Lager: if one offers a position of privilege to a few individuals in a state of slavery, exacting in exchange the betrayal of a natural solidarity with their
comrades, there will certainly be someone who will accept. He will be withdrawn from the common law and will become untouchable; the more power that he is given, the more he will be consequently hateful and
hated. When he is given the command of a group of unfortunates, with the right of life or death over them, he will be cruel and tyrannical, because he will understand that if he is not sufficiently so, someone else, judged more suitable, will take over his post.
Moreover, his capacity for hatred, unfulfilled in the direction of the oppressors, will double back, beyond all reason, on the oppressed; and he will only be satisfied when he has unloaded onto his underlings the injury received from above. ~ Primo Levi

Death was more like what we went through in the park: two people walking side by side in the mist, rubbing against trees and bushes, and not a word between them. It was something emptier than the name itself and yet right and peaceful, dignified, if you like. It was not a continuation of life, but a leap in the dark and no possibility of ever coming back, not even as a grain of dust. And that was right and beautiful, I said to myself, because why would one want to come back. To taste it once is to taste it forever - life or death. Whichever way the coin flips is right, so long as you hold no stakes. Sure, it's tough to choke on your own spittle - it's disagreeable more than anything else. And besides, one doesn't always die choking to death. Sometimes one goes off in his sleep, peaceful and quiet as a lamb. The Lord comes and gathers you up into the fold, as they say. Anyway, you stop breathing. And why the hell should one want to go on breathing forever? Anything that would have to be done interminably would be torture. The poor human bastards that we are, we ought to be glad that somebody devised a way out. We don't quibble about going to sleep. A third of our lives we snore away like drunken rats. What about that? Is that tragic? Well then, say three-thirds of drunken rat-like sleep. Jesus, if we had any sense we'd be dancing with glee at the thought of it! We could all die in bed tomorrow, without pain, without suffering - if we had the sense to take advantage of our reme ~ Henry Miller

I learned a lesson today: never judge a person by the way they act, nor how they dress, or the way they have their disabilities. Because everyone on Earth suffers the same hell, whether in love or hate, life or death. ~ Nandanie Phalgoo

It is my job to make sure that these kids who are talented get every chance they can and not to be passed over; this is life or death for them. ~ Paula Abdul

We have to go along a road covered with blood. We have no other alternative. For us it is a matter of life or death, a matter of living or existing. We have to be ready to face the challenges that await us. ~ Gamal Abdel Nasser

The leap of faith is this: You have to believe, or at least pretend you believe until you really believe it, that you are strong enough to take life face on. Eating disorders, on any level, are a crutch. They are also an addiction and illness, but there is no question at all that they are quite simply a way of avoiding the banal, daily, itchy pain of life. Eating disorders provide a little drama, they feed into the desire for constant excitement, everything becomes life-or-death, everything is terribly grand and crashing, very Sturm and Drang. And they are distracting. You don't have to think about any of the nasty minutiae of the real world, you don't get caught up in that awful boring thing called regular life, with its bills and its breakups and its dishes and laundry and groceries and arguments over whose turn it is to change the litter box and bedtimes and bad sex and all that, because you are having a real drama, not a sitcom but a GRAND EPIC, all by yourself, and why would you bother with those foolish mortals when you could spend hours and hours with the mirror, when you are having the most interesting sado-machistic affair with your own image? ~ Marya Hornbacher

The reason that war is such a fascinating subject for writers is because it's a revealer. Put a bunch of people in an adrenaline-fuelled, life-or-death situation and their fundamental behaviours are exposed, the scrim is taken away and the motivations behind each personality come out to play. ~ Sloane Crosley

Music is not take it or leave it; Music is life or death! ~ Joss Stirling

Best Of You

I've got another confession to make
I'm your fool
Everyone's got their chains to break
Holdin' you
Were you born to resist or be abused

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you
Or are you gone and onto someone new

I needed somewhere to hang my head
Without your noose
You gave me something that I didn't have
But had no use
I was too weak to give in
Too strong to lose
My heart is under arrest again
But I'll break loose
My head is giving me life or death
But I can't choose
I swear I'll never give in
I refuse

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you
Has someone taken your faith
Its real, the pain you feel
Your trust, you must
Confess
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you
Oh...

Oh...Oh...Oh...
Oh...Oh...Oh...
Oh...Oh...Oh...
Oh...

Has someone taken your faith
It's real, the pain you feel
The life, the love
You'd die to heal
The hope that starts
The broken hearts
Your trust, you must
Confess

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you
Foo Fighters

As an entrepreneur, the pressures of a startup can be enormous, but it's rarely life or death. ~ Ryan Holmes

If there are necessary sacrifices to be made for human progress, is it not essential to hold to the principle that those to be sacrificed must make the decision themselves? We can all decide to give up something of ours, but do we have the right to throw into the pyre the children of others, or even our own children, for a progress which is not nearly as clear or present as sickness or health, life or death? ~ Howard Zinn

I decipher the brewing machine because I am, after all, trained to save lives, and this is a life-or-death situation. We need coffee. Now. Or heads will roll. ~ Lisa Wingate

If you believe it's life or death for the kids, it changes everything you do. ~ Martin Haberman

Once one is convinced of the idea of eternal life or death, the person may do almost anything to achieve the reward or avoid punishment. He may fly an airplane into a building or become a missionary to another county. She may become a celibate nun or vow to raise a quiver full of children and homeschool them according to her religion. At the very least, the person will attend church regularly, give money, pray and do other things to ensure good standing with the deity. The root of this action is the hope for a reward and avoidance of punishment. ~ Darrel Ray

People aren't often asked to make life or death decisions. There are no causes to die for. You can go through life never knowing which of your friends would really come through for you ~ Bella Pollen

When one does not feel life or death, it's the best future. ~ Sylvia Chang

If you've never shot a gun,
You can't understand
how it feels in your hands.
Cool to the touch, all its venom
coiled inside, deadly,
like a steel-scaled serpent. Awaiting your bidding.
You select it's prey… paper,
tin, or flesh. You lie in wait,
learn that patience is the killer's
most trustworthy accomplice.
You choose the moment. What. Where. When. Decided.
But the how is everything.
You lift your weapon,
ease it into place, cock it,
to load it, knowing the
satisfying snitch means a bullet is yours to command.
Now, make or break,
it's all up to you. You
aim knowing a hair either
way means bull's-eye or miss.
Success or failure. Life or death.
You have to relax,
convince your muscles
not to be tense, not to betray
you. Sight again. Adjust.
Don't become distracted by the heat of the hunt.
Instincts take over.
You shoot and adrenaline
screams as your target shreds
or the flesh drops. And for
one indescribable moment you are God. ~ Ellen Hopkins

All that hath been majestical
In life or death, since time began,
Is native in the simple heart of all,
The angel heat of man. ~ James Russell Lowell

Like caterpillars our metamorphosis begins with what comes from our mouth. Caterpillars spin silk cocoons from the mouth. We speak life or death, success or failure. All transformation starts with what comes from our mouth. ~ Brandi L. Bates

I thought it might be a fine time to say the Three Little Words. And I steeled myself to say them as I stared up at that starriest night, convinced myself that she felt it, too, that her hand so alive and vivid against my leg was more than playful, and fuck Lara and fuck Jake because I do, Alaska Young, I do love you and what else matters but that and my lips parted to speak and before I could even begin to breathe out the words, she said, It's not life or death, the labyrinth. ~ John Green

If you have ever been in a life-or-death emergency situation, you will know that it wasn't a problem. The mind didn't have time to fool around and make it into a problem. In a true emergency, the mind stops; you become totally present in the Now, and something infinitely more powerful takes over. ~ Eckhart Tolle

We know no fear. It was cut from our souls at birth. We can feel it only as an absence, as an empty shadow cast by the light of annihilation. In the face of a future of atrocity I stand mute, numb to the only feeling that would make me human. But I remember what fear was: its cold pulse in my veins; its echo in my ears. I remember fear, and remember that I was once human. I look towards what must come to pass and I wish that I could meet it as my ancestors did, with fear. The future deserves that, it deserves fear. ~ John French

I'll bet most of the companies that are in life-or-death battles got into that kind of trouble because they didn't pay enough attention to developing their leaders. ~ D. Wayne Calloway

He was a baby once, she thought. New and perfect, cradled in his mother's arms. The mysterious Sylvie. Now he was a feathery husk, ready to blow away. His eyes were half open, milky, like an old dog, and his mouth had grown beaky with the extremity of age, opening and closing, a fish out of water. Bertie could feel a continual tremor running through him, an electrical current, the faint buzz of life. Or death, perhaps. Energy was gathering around him, the air was static with it. ~ Kate Atkinson

If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Mina's mouth dropped open, and he bent his head as if to kiss her. She jammed her gun barrel under his chin. He grinned. ~ Meljean Brook

That my life has come down to this – luck, is galling, when I have always directed my own fate. Land or water? Heads or tails? Life or death? We'll see. ~ Kate Lord Brown

Do you ever think about it? About nothingness. I do, I think about it all the time. Because of course it's nothingness that awaits us. Of course it is. If it weren't why would our hearts keep pumping any longer than they had to? Why wouldn't we all emerge into the world pure and innocent, and then before we had a chance to get in any trouble, before we had a chance to take our first oily shit, just immediately shut down our systems and head straight to the hereafter? If there were a better life after death, why bother getting fitter for survival's sake? Why would evolution even be a thing? Why fight for something second best? If death was really awesome, in a life or death situation, our bodies wouldn't muscle up with epinephrine and cortisol. Our brains would hit us up instead with sloppy, sleepy happy love. Hannibal Lecter would be our Mickey Mouse. No, there's fuckall to look forward to. Our bodies understand this. The real problem is, it's unbearable to know this. So we cope. ~ Elizabeth Little

It's not life or death, the labyrinth. Suffering. Doing wrong and having wrong things happen to you. That's the problem. Bolivar was talking about the pain, not about the living or dying. How do you get out of the labyrinth of suffering? ~ John Green

Standing up for your ethical principles takes courage. Courage is the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear. When you see something happening in the workplace that just doesn't seem right do you have the courage to stand-up and do something? What are you afraid of? Retribution, disapproval, your image, damaged relationships, or simply the unknown? Courage is about setting aside your fear and taking action for the good of yourself or someone else.

..approaching the person with whom you have a problem. This is NOT easy. Most of us don't naturally confront people. To most of us, the courage to actually go up and talk face-to-face takes a superhuman Kristopher Kime level of courage. Your voice trembles, stomach hurts, beads of sweat roll down your face. It certainly FEELS like a life or death struggle. But remember, courage is about facing difficulty without being overcome by fear. ~ Mark S. Putnam

Guard your hearts and thoughts; it is well spring of either life or death. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

I am afraid. Not of life, or death, or nothingness, but of wasting it as if I had never been. ~ Daniel Keyes

I have decided to escape, to defy the shogun. Today I will begin walking the road to hell. But you will choose your own path. So, soon you may be seeing heaven. Choose the sword, and you will join me. Choose the ball and you join your mother, in death. You don't understand my words, but you must choose. So… come boy, choose life or death. ~ Kazuo Koike

I'm not very interested in charting a day-to-day familiar reality. I'm always looking for territory in which to explore the BIG subjects, the life-or-death stories. ~ Rose Tremain

It has ever been since time began, and ever will be, till time lose breath, that love is a mood - no more - to man, and love to a woman is life or death. ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

When it came to life or death, or anything else important, the only one you could count on was yourself. ~ Kenneth Eade

I turned my focus to clothes, immediately endeavoring to find just the right dress for the occasion. This was huge--my debut as the girlfriend of Marlboro Man--and I shopped with that in mind. Should I go for a sleek, sexy suit? That might seem too confident and brazen. A floral silk skirt? Too obvious for a wedding. A little black dress? Too conservative and safe. The options pummeled my brain as I browsed the choices on the racks. I tried on dress after dress, suit after suit, outfit after outfit, my frustration growing more acute with each zip of the zipper. I wanted to be a man. Men don't agonize over what to wear to a wedding. They don't spend seven hours trying on clothes. They don't think of wardrobe choices as life-or-death decisions.
That's when I found it: a drop-dead gorgeous fitted suit the exact color of a stick of butter. It was snug, with just a slight hint of sexy, but the lovely, pure color made up for it. The fabric was a lightweight wool, but since the wedding would be at night, I knew it would be just fine. I loved the suit--not only would I feel pretty for Marlboro Man, but I'd also appear moderately, but not overly, confident to all his cousins, and appropriate and proper to his elderly grandmothers. ~ Ree Drummond

Our interexistence assures that there is an effect for every intention, action, decision and word. For good or for evil, the people we are in both private and in public, take on life or death and collectively create the world we live in. ~ Mac MacKenzie

You've got a choice. Peace or war? Life or death? Harmony or hate? I've never understood why that even needs discussion, it's so flippin' obvious! ~ Juno Dawson

Secrets are secrets, but if it comes to choosing life or death, then I'm not taking them to the grave. ~ C.M. Stunich

There's always hope. Always. You just never know what life - or death - might bring. I think we've all seen that the world is a little more complicated than we ever could have imagined. ~ James Dashner

Besides being on the run for my life for the last couple of weeks, shooting living beings, being held hostage, kidnapped , nearly raped and murdered,watching people be ripped apart, facing off against not one but two crazy shapeshifters, and oh yeah, having to watch you fight a life-or-death battle because of me. Twice. Besides all that, no of course nothing's wrong. ~ Kat Simons

May the Lord our God prepare us for every event, then comes Life or Death - it is no great matter. ~ Nathaniel Smith

I certainly couldn't have survived my childhood without books. All that deprivation and pain
abuse, broken home, a runaway sister, a brother with cancer
the books allowed me to withstand. They sustained me. I read still, prolifically, with great passion, but never like I read in those days: in those days it was life or death. ~ Junot Diaz

If you truly want to know why I'm helping you, you won't get any easy answers. It's not because I believe in the goodness of humankind. It's not because I believe God and the rest of the monsters are evil. I only wish to have the capacity to change. To know that we have the ability to take a different direction than the one presented to us. That is more important than good and evil. Than life or death. ~ Autumn Christian

Dear Jesus, I thank You that we must come with empty hands. I thank You that You have done all -all- on the cross, and that all we need in life or death is to be sure of this. ~ Corrie Ten Boom

It comes with faith, for with complete faith there is no fear of what faces you in life or death. ~ Jacqueline Cochran

Being the leader means you have to make life or death decisions sometimes. ~ James Patterson

If they don't utter the words, it cannot happen. But words, once spoken, seal a man or maid for life or death. [Gisa] ~ Karen Maitland

If a fight isn't a life or death situation - which honestly most aren't - people should realize people make mistakes, no one is perfect, and move on from it. For holding onto bad feelings just makes you bitter and makes you one day regret holding onto it when in the long run it most likely won't make a difference. ~ Megan Wilson

The realization of justice is, in the actual state of things, a matter of life or death for society and for civilisation itself. ~ African Spir

There is life or death in words. ~ Iimani David

KING EDWARD: But what is he whom rule and empery
Have not in life or death made miserable? ~ Christopher Marlowe

Anything that brings you to a decision will be answered. The stronger the decision is, the faster it's answered. So if you're in a situation where it seems life or death, and the desire is strong, it is answered now, because it must be answered now to be answered at all. ~ Esther Hicks

I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.' There ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

I am with the South in life or death, in victory or defeat. I believe the North is about to wage a brutal and unholy war on a people who have done them no wrong, in violation of the Constitution and the fundamental principles of government. They no longer acknowledge that all government derives its validity from the consent of the governed. They are about to invade our peaceful homes, destroy our property, and murder our men and dishonor our women. We propose no invasion of the North, no attack on them, and only ask to be left alone. ~ Patrick Cleburne

When you are thrown onto the stage at 17 in such an enormous way, it becomes living on the edge because every step you take, every word you speak, every action you do becomes headline news. And it became, for me, life or death. ~ Boris Becker

A garden is not a matter of life or death. It is far more important than that. ~ Elin Hilderbrand

But I am the real Strider, fortunately. I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will. ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Douglas wondered if his friend would make it out of this alive. He realized, not for the first time, that life or death was not the most important thing. The most important thing was the mission, their own small attempt to "proclaim liberty to the captives," as the Book of Isaiah had commanded nearly three thousand years before. To engage in a war where there would be no material benefit for the victor other than the liberation of oppressed and victimized human beings. ~ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

For an acrobat, the acting concepts of 'risk', 'a life or death situation' and 'trusting your partner' are visceral. If an actor loses focus, the scene dies; if an acrobat loses focus, their partner might die. ~ Jeff Raz

Mankind must give up war in the Atomic Era. What is at stake is the life or death of humanity. ~ Albert Einstein

Yes, it's your fault I'm alive. ~ Suzanne Collins

He said that he felt as though he was in a life-or-death war with these urges, and that they were winning because they were so much stronger than his willpower. ~ Jennifer Gregg

How do we know whether we are producing life or death? By whether our lives exhibit the beauty of God's character. When people see the way you live, are they drawn closer to God or are they alienated from God? When they observe the way you treat others, do they find the gospel more credible or less credible? That is the standard by which we should measure our actions. Christians are called to be "life-producing machines, ~ Nancy Pearcey

Every soldier, every cop who's faced with a decision to make, a life or death, does the best he or she can. ~ Peter T. King

When it came down to it and the life-or-death decision had to be made, then it was made by you, because you were the witch. And sometimes it wasn't a decision between a good thing or a bad thing, but a decision between to bad things: no right choices, just ... choices. ~ Terry Pratchett

I used to scream at everybody at the beginning of my career. I'd get really emotional. I'd project all my issues about my parents and safety onto the executives, so every conversation where they gave a note was life or death and you don't love me. ~ Judd Apatow

Who can escape when in your grip,
When your dark eyes confront one?
I do not wish to flee when you seize me,
I never shall believe that you only destroy.
I know that you must course through everyone's life
and nothing earthbound stays untouched by you,
Though life without you would be beautiful!
And yet, it is worthwhile to experience you.
Indeed, you are not a night's phantom;
You come to remind the spirit of its strength:
It's the battle that has made the greatest persons great
-on rugged roads towards the goal.
For that, and happiness and joy,
give me only one thing;
pain which lends true greatness.
So, come and let us wrestle breast to breast;
do come, even if it means life or death.
Do come and lip into the heart's deepest interior
and rummage through the depths of life.
Take away dream's illusion and joy;
take away things not worth one's unlimited strivings.
You are not mankind's final conqueror.
Although we expose our breast to your blows
and although we collapse in death,
you are the pedestal for our soul's greatness. ~ Lou Andreas Salome

War is a matter of vital importance to the state; the province of life or death; the road to survival or ruin. It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied. ~ Sun Tzu