Quotes from David Rieff

All major religious traditions accept that suffering and death are simply part of life. The deep radicalism of humanitarian action is its belief that people are not made to suffer.

Perhaps we become accustomed to our grief and, as it becomes increasingly familiar, increasingly part of the emotional landscape, it becomes a dullness. But there is no closure, no forgetting. One mourns those one has loved who have died until one joins them. It happens soon enough.

She thought the world a charnel house…and couldn't get enough of it. She thought herself unhappy…and wanted to live, unhappy, for as long as she possibly could.

After Sarajevo, after Srebrenica, we know what "Never again!" means. "Never again'' simply means "Never again'' will Germans kill Jews in Europe in the 1940's. That is all it means.

Since 1945, "never again" has meant, essentially, "Never again will Germans kill Jews in Europe in the 1940s.

Since 1945, 'never again' has meant, essentially, 'Never again will Germans kill Jews in Europe in the 1940s.