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Quote by Veronica Roth

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The Fates Divide

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Author

Veronica Roth
Veronica Roth

Veronica Roth (born August 19, 1988) is an American novelist best known for her bestselling Divergent trilogy, which includes Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant. The series, set in a dystopian Chicago, explores themes of identity, choice, and societal structure. Roth graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in creative writing. She published Divergent at age 21, and the series has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, inspiring a successful film franchise. Roth continues to write and lives in Chicago with her family. more

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“Priests discovered this principle thousands of years ago. It underlies numerous religious ceremonies and commandments. If you want to make people believe in imaginary entities such as gods and nations, you should make them sacrifice something valuable. The more painful the sacrifice, the more convinced people are of the existence of the imaginary recipient. A poor peasant sacrificing a priceless bull to Jupiter will become convinced that Jupiter really exists, otherwise how can he excuse his stupidity? The peasant will sacrifice another bull, and another, and another, just so he won’t have to admit that all the previous bulls were wasted. For exactly the same reason, if I have sacrificed a child to the glory of the Italian nation, or my legs to the communist revolution, it’s enough to turn me into a zealous Italian nationalist or an enthusiastic communist. For if Italian national myths or communist propaganda are a lie, then I will be forced to admit that my child’s death or my own paralysis have been completely pointless. Few people have the stomach to admit such a thing.”

StoriesReligionSacrifice
Book:Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow
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