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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Jean-Paul Sartre: When the rich fight the rich, it is the poor who die
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Jean-Paul Sartre
From The Devil and the Good Lord (1951)
Translated by Kitty Black
GOETZ: And why have you changed your mind?
HEINRICH: I have seen the faces of your mercenaries.
GOETZ: So what?
HEINRICH: They are eloquent.
GOETZ: What do they say?
HEINRICH: That I should precipitate a massacre by trying to prevent a few murders.
GOETZ: You must have seen other soldiers. And you know they never look kindhearted.
HEINRICH: The ones here look much worse than others.
GOETZ: Pooh, pooh! All soldiers look alike. What did you expect to find here? Angels?
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HILDA: Why should I hate you:
GOETZ: Because you believe that I have killed your people.
HILDA: It was I who killed them.
GOETZ: You?
HILDA: It was I who said no. I loved them better dead than alive as murderers…
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GOETZ: Nasti, I am resigned to kill, I shall let myself be killed if I must; but I shall never send another man to his death.
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NASTI: I despise only myself. [Pause.] Do you know of a stranger comedy? I who hate lies, lie to my brothers to give them the courage to be killed in a war I detest.
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