“[G]overnments always need enemies, even when they're not at war. If you don't have a real enemy, you make one up and spread the word. It scares the population, and when the people are scared, they tend not to step out of line.”
Paul Auster, Oracle Night, New York: Henry Holt and Company, p. 168.
Oracle Night (2003)
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Paul Auster 9
novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter 1947Related quotes

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