“It is not until we tour the city that we learn the extent of destruction. We come across corpses every 100 to 200 yards. The bodies of civilians that I examined had bullet holes in their backs. These people had been presumably fleeing and were shot from behind.”

—  John Rabe

13 December 1937 diary per Woods, John E. (1998). The Good Man of Nanjing: the Diaries of John Rabe. p. 67.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is not until we tour the city that we learn the extent of destruction. We come across corpses every 100 to 200 yards…" by John Rabe?
John Rabe photo
John Rabe 4
German businessman 1882–1950

Related quotes

Geronimo photo

“They held us in San Antonio … We had tents and blankets but no arms. We had food. But every minute we expected to be taken out and shot. Nobody said it aloud. Geronimo had been promised that he would not die by bullets (by Usen, the Apache God), but the rest had not.”

Geronimo (1829–1909) leader of the Bedonkohe Apache

Jasper Kanseah, a fellow captive, as quoted in Geronimo and the End of the Apache Wars (1990), by Charles Leland Sonnichsen, p. 101.
About

“In bombers named for girls, we burned
The cities we had learned about in school —
Till our lives wore out; our bodies lay among
The people we had killed and never seen.”

Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist

Losses (1948)
Context: We read our mail and counted up our missions —
In bombers named for girls, we burned
The cities we had learned about in school —
Till our lives wore out; our bodies lay among
The people we had killed and never seen.
When we lasted long enough they gave us medals;
When we died they said, "Our casualties were low."
They said, "Here are the maps"; we burned the cities.

"Losses," lines 21-28

Harry Styles photo

“We never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets?”

Harry Styles (1994) English singer, songwriter, and actor

"Sign of the Times", written by Harry Styles, Jeff Bhasker, Mitch Rowland, Ryan Nasci, Alex Salibian, Tyler Johnson
Lyrics, Harry Styles (2017)

Robert Patrick (playwright) photo
Hillary Clinton photo
Carlo Rovelli photo

“The shadow escapes from the body like an animal we had been sheltering.”

Source: Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation

Natalie Merchant photo
Alain de Botton photo

Related topics