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Serbia Quotes

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Serbia Quotes

“-the apartment had been directly in the sight line of a Serb sniper across the river. Teta-Jozefina was a devout Catholic, but she somehow managed to believe in essential human goodness, despite all the abundant evidence to the contrary surrounding her. She felt that the sniper was essentially a good man because during the siege, she said, he had often shot over her and her husband's heads to warn them that he was watching and that they shouldn't move so carelessly in their own apartment.”

WarGoodnessSerbiaSniper
Book:The Book of My Lives
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“Europeans the Poles or Balts coming in here … we brought here knowledge with us and our culture with us, but we assimilated … assimilated is not one way, it’s a two-way street. - Fred Ritzkowski, German”

WarHistorySecurityInspiredUkrainePolandTrue LifeSerbiaCzechoslovakiaCroatia
Book:Suffering, Redemption and Triumph: The first wave of post-war Australian immigrants 1945-66
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“Има људи, који су у свом животу видели свега неколико залазака сунца, а још мање има људи који су видели свитање и оргије сунчевог изласка. Обожавају природу само деца и лудаци; само они говоре с биљкама по путу и с камењем у пољу. На од њих стоје још филозофи и песници, који се детињски уски супротној тачци поменутог пријатеља за такав свет била је крволочна онолико колико је његова љубав за природу била дивљачка.”

QuotesSerbiaSrbijaJovanDučić
Book:Gradovi i himere
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“We had watched the Sacramento Kings, my favorite NBA team, playing the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers had won but it was still fun, especially since we had tickets for the third row. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Vlade Divac and Predrag Stojakovic, two Serbs playing in the Kings, waving at me and saying hello. They recognized the jersey of Divac's former team from Belgrade that I had been wearing.”

BasketballNbaIndianaSerbiaSacramentoBelgradeBeogradPeja StojakovicPredrag StojakovicVlade Divac
Book:Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia
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“Europe, he says, is frightened that an influx of foreigners will erode European values. But what values will there to be uphold if we abandon our duty to protect those less fortunate than ourselves? Wat incentive do we give to refugees to maintain the fabric of our society if that fabric is so ragged in the first place? "If Europe is not able to show a better way of life to them, then they will think that their morality is better than ours." "They need to face some higher standards of morality, " he says. "If not, they will set their own." [Quoting Serbian priest Tibor Varga]”

RefugeesMigrantsRefugee CrisisSerbia
Book:The New Odyssey: The Story of Europe's Refugee Crisis
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“When these people, my mother and people like her, came out here it was like leaving a reality; leaving a planet; turning your back. I guess we don’t appreciate it was such a big deal that they may never come back, never see their family again. – John Savić”

WarHistorySecurityUkrainePolandTrue LifeSerbiaLithuaniaPostwarMass Migration
Book:Suffering, Redemption and Triumph: The first wave of post-war Australian immigrants 1945-66
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“I like it! I liked it when man to man no matter whether he is boss or he is ordinary worker, but in meantime they go to the pub, they drink beer together and call by first name. I like that. After few years, I think that Queensland is the best place in Australia … I am Queenslander! – Alex Sucharsky, Ukranian”

HistorySecurityHistoricalUkrainePolandTrue LifeSerbiaLithuaniaPostwarMass Migration
Book:Suffering, Redemption and Triumph: The first wave of post-war Australian immigrants 1945-66
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“We play in twelve rounds. The present against me. I lost the previous eleven. Defeat after defeat. And now I am waiting for the last round. The key round. The fact that I did not fall so far gives me more strength. It’s only now that I hope to win, by knock-out, because the fate is too tired from punches that it will eventually fall by itself. And maybe it will fall on knees when it realizes that I am not going to fall.”

SerbiaSerbianSlavisa Pavlovic
Author:Slaviša Pavlović
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“Yet it is also a tonic and an antidote to dullness to be with the Serbs. They possess the irresponsible gaiety that we traditionally connect with the Irish, with whom they have often been compared. Other less convenient sides of the Irish character are also typical in the Serbs, such as a cheerful contempt for punctuality in daily life and a ready willingness, arising clearly from politeness and good nature, to make promises that are not always fulfilled. But perhaps the most pronounced of these similarities is to be found in the songs of Serbia and Ireland. With both peoples the historic songs about the past are songs of sorrow, or noble struggles against overwhelming odds, of failure redeemed by unconquerable resolve. There is nothing strange in this combination of laughing gaiety and profound melancholy. It is often only those who are truly capable of the one emotion who also have the faculty for the other.”

HistoryNonfictionSerbiaBalkansBalkanSerbsSerbians
Author:R.G.D. Laffan
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“Playing pool with Korean officials one evening in the Koryo Hotel, which has become the nightspot for foreign businessmen and an increasing number of diplomats (to say nothing of the burgeoning number of spies and journalists traveling under second identities), I was handed that day's edition of the Pyongyang Times. At first glance it seemed too laughable for words: endless pictures of the 'Dear Leader'—Little Boy's exalted title—as he was garlanded by adoring schoolchildren and heroic tractor drivers. Yet even in these turgid pages there were nuggets: a telegram congratulating the winner of the Serbian elections; a candid reference to the 'hardship period' through which the country had been passing; an assurance that a certain nuclear power plant would be closed as part of a deal with Washington. Tiny cracks, to be sure. But a complete and rigid edifice cannot afford fissures, however small. There appear to be no hookers, as yet, in Pyongyang. Yet if casinos come, can working girls be far behind? One perhaps ought not to wish for hookers, but there are circumstances when corruption is the only hope.”

United StatesJournalismPropagandaPoolDiplomacyProstitutionNorth KoreaEspionageCasinosSerbia2000Kim Jong IlPyongyangNorth Korea And WmdNorth Korean FamineKoryo HotelProstitution In North KoreaSerbian Election 2000The Pyongyang Times
Book:Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays
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“We continue to receive reports that the morale of some elements is being damaged, .. They are being affected by the impunity with which NATO aircraft can operate over Kosovo and Serbia, the accuracy and the growing knowledge.. of deployed locations. In summary, NATO has eroded the capability of Milosevic's war machine and it is being further reduced as each day goes by.”

WarGrowingElementsMachinesAffectionEach DayReportsAffectedCapabilityLocationAccuracyNatoAircraftMoraleImpunitySummarySerbiaKosovoGrowing Knowledge
Author:John Day
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“In Globetrotter, David Albahari explores the consciousness of emigres from the former Yugoslavia, Croatia and Serbia, showing that while abroad, many of us are even more intensely preoccupied with our histories than we were while living in Yugoslavia. His narrative structured out of realistic details and perceptions with self-conscious meditation blending history, civilization and its discontents, and personal experience reaches a density and intensity akin to Krasznahorkai's and Thomas Bernhard's. An intensely idiosyncratic narrative, enjoyable and thoughtful.”

SelfConsciousnessMeditationCivilizationPerceptionConsciousDetailsFormerNarrativeThoughtfulRealisticIntensityEnjoyableDiscontentSelf ConsciousPersonal ExperiencesDensitySerbiaYugoslaviaCroatiaGlobetrotters
Author:Josip Novakovich
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“The hopelessness of the Turkish Government should make me witness with delight its being swept out of the countries which it tortures. Next to the Ottoman Government nothing can be more deplorable and blameworthy than jealousies between Greek and Slav and plans by the States already existing for appropriating other territory. Why not Macedonia for the Macedonians as well as Bulgaria for the Bulgarians and Serbia for the Serbians?”

ShouldWellsCountryStatesGovernmentNextPlansDelightWitnessGreekTortureWhy NotTerritoryHopelessnessTurkishSerbiaBulgariaOttomansMacedoniaBulgarians
Author:William E. Gladstone
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“War is a culture, bellicosity is addictive, defeat for a community that imagines itself to be history's eternal victim can be as intoxicating as victory. How long will it take for the Serbs to realize that the Milosevic years have been an unmitigated disaster for Serbia, the net result of Milosevic's policies being the economic and cultural ruin of the entire region, including Serbia, for several generations? Alas, one thing we can be sure of, that will not happen soon.”

YearsLongHas BeensWarHappensCultureRealizingCommunityResultsImagineGenerationsOne ThingEconomicPolicyVictoryEternalVictimIncludingDefeatDisasterRuinsRegionsAlasSerbia
Author:Susan Sontag
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“God has chosen little nations as the vessels by which He carries His choicest wines to the lips of humanity to rejoice their hearts, to exalt their vision, to strengthen their faith, and if we had stood by when two little nations [Belgium and Serbia] were being crushed and broken by the brutal hands of barbarians, our shame would have rung down the everlasting ages.”

IfsHeartLittlesTwoWarHandsAgeHumanityNationsVisionBrokenShameWineLipsChosenCarrieRejoiceBrutalEverlastingVesselCrushedBarbariansBelgiumSerbia
Author:David Lloyd George
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“It is now necessary to face the truth and to acknowledge against all prejudices that the struggle that the Albanian tribe is leading today is a natural and unavoidable historic struggle for a different political life than that experienced under Turkish rule - different also from that which its neighbours Serbia, Greece and Montenegro would like to force upon the Albanians.”

DifferentTodayFacesPoliticalForceNaturalStrugglePrejudiceAcknowledgeTribesHistoricGreeceNeighbourTurkishPolitical LifeSerbiaFacing The TruthAlbanian
Author:Dimitrije Tucovic
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“The Reformed Church was identified with the old all-white government of South Africa and its apartheid policy. The Roman Catholic Church was closely identified with the Franco and Salazar dictatorships in Spain and Portugal. . . . More recently, . . . the Serbian Orthodox Church has come to be identified with the policies of Serbia (Yugoslavia).”

StatesGovernmentChurchWhitePolicyCatholicSouthOrthodoxDictatorshipSouth AfricaSpainCatholic ChurchApartheidPortugalRoman CatholicFrancoSerbiaYugoslaviaRoman Catholic ChurchOrthodox Church
Author:Edd Doerr
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“The Soviet Union came apart along ethnic lines. The most important factor in this breakup was the disinclination of Slavic Ukraine to continue under a regime dominated by Slavic Russia. Yugoslavia came apart also, beginning with a brutal clash between Serbia and Croatia, here again 'nations' with only the smallest differences in genealogy; with, indeed, practically a common language. Ethnic conflict does not require great differences; small will do.”

DoeImportantLanguageNationsDifferencesLinesCommonConflictUnionsRussiaFactorsBreakupSovietRegimesBrutalSmallestSoviet UnionUkraineClashEthnic ConflictGenealogySerbiaYugoslaviaCommon LanguageCroatia
Author:Daniel Patrick Moynihan
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