“Life is a battleground. It always has been, and always will be; and if it were not so, existence would come to an end.”

Source: Woodcutters

1960's, Conversations with Samuel Beckett and Bram van Velde' (1965 - 1969)

Last statements (1915)

Source: Nausea

Source: Understanding International Conflicts: An Introduction to Theory and History (6th ed., 2006), Chapter 9, A New World Order?, p. 262.

After the Ending
Lyrics, The Empyrean (2009)

The Book of Universes: Exploring the Limits of the Cosmos (2011)
Context: Aristotle believed that the world did not come into being at some time in the past; it had always existed and it would always exist, unchanged in essence for ever. He placed a high premium on symmetry and believed that the sphere was the most perfect of all shapes. Hence the universe must be spherical.... An important feature of the spherical shape... was the fact that when a sphere rotates it does not cut into empty space where there is no matter and it leaves no empty space behind.... A vacuum was impossible. It could no more exist than an infinite physical quantity.... Circular motion was the most perfect and natural movement of all.<!--ch. 1, pp. 12-13

In response to a question during a congressional hearing about whether the U.S. should modify its Afghan strategy in response to six U.S. soldiers being killed by Afghan soldiers between Feb. 23 and March 1. As quoted in Key commanders have their say on Afghanistan http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/key-commanders-have-their-say-on-afghanistan/2012/03/07/gIQAOukuxR_story.html (2012) by Walter Pincus, The Washington Post