“Perhaps his laughter saved them — it must be difficult to shoot a laughing man: you have to feel important to kill.”

The Lawless Roads (1939)

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 "Perhaps his laughter saved them — it must be difficult to shoot a laughing man: you have to feel important to kill." by Graham Greene?
Graham Greene photo
Graham Greene 164
English writer, playwright and literary critic 1904–1991

Related quotes

Lin Yutang photo

“It is important that man dreams, but it is perhaps equally important that he can laugh at his own dreams.”

Source: The Importance of Living (1937), Ch. I : The Awakening, pp. 4–5

Friedrich Nietzsche photo

“Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist
Thomas Carlyle photo
Ernesto Che Guevara photo

“I know you've come to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man.”

Ernesto Che Guevara (1928–1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary

These reportedly, were his last words, to Sergeant Jaime Terán, who in different accounts had either volunteered to be his executioner, or by most accounts, had been selected by lot (9 October 1967). Because of the many different reports that have arisen, much confusion and uncertainty exists about his actual last words. His last words to Colonel Arnaldo Saucedo Parada, head of intelligence of the Eighth Division who delivered the official report on Che's final moments were reported as: "I knew you were going to shoot me; I should never have been taken alive. Tell Fidel that this failure does not mean the end of the revolution, that it will triumph elsewhere. Tell Aleida to forget this, remarry and be happy, and keep the children studying. Ask the soldiers to aim well."
Variant translations:
I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, you are only going to kill a man.
I know you have come to kill me. Shoot, coward. You are only going to kill a man.
Capture and Death (1967)

Ronald David Laing photo

“I'm ridiculous to feel ridiculous when I'm not.
You must
be laughing at me
for feeling you are laughing at me
if you are not laughing at me.”

Ronald David Laing (1927–1989) Scottish psychiatrist and author

§2, p. 22
Knots (1970)

Rod Serling photo
Wendell Berry photo

“Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

"Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" in Farming: A Hand Book (1970).
Poems

Jacob Zuma photo

“We are going to shoot them, they are going to run; We are going to shoot them, with the machine gun; They are going to run. You are a white man – We are going to hit them – and you are going to run! Shoot the Boer! We are going to hit them – they are going to run! The Cabinet will shoot them with the machine gun! The Cabinet will shoot them with the machine gun! Shoot the Boer!”

Jacob Zuma (1942) 4th President of South Africa

Singing to supporters at ANC celebrations in Bloemfontein on 8 January 2012, Is Jan van Riebeeck really the cause of all SA's misfortunes? http://www.politicsweb.co.za/news-and-analysis/is-jan-van-riebeeck-really-the-cause-of-all-sas-mi, Dave Steward (16 January 2015)
Jacob Zuma sings kill the Boer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb3MLHblnbQ, youtube

Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke photo
W. Somerset Maugham photo

Related topics