Even better if you can provide your own understanding of its meaning.

Mine would be :

“Nothing kills a man as much as being forced to represent a country” (and err considering the context, I must stress it has nothing to do with the current US shitshow), by a WW1 soldier, illustrator and writer named Jacques Vaché.

For me it just means being forced into representing a group (national, of course, but maybe also social, racial, sexual, professional, any kind of group) or defining one’s identity only by reference to a group is to be avoided at all costs.

Note : Its not the same, imho, as engaging in a collective struggle or defense against a common oppression.

How about you?

  • anarcho_vroom@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    “It’ll never be the same”
    In context, meaning that things can never go back to the way they were… Ever.

    For me it’s like a grounding statement. Whenever I start thinking about some past time and just want things to go back to how they were, I remember this. My mind shifts to the future and I forget that nostalgic feeling because I remember that it can never be.

    • Cadenza@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 days ago

      Oh, yeah. There’s another one like this for me, a very short poem I read when I was a teenager :

      “Ah, what are they dreaming…? Those who say, say, say… Yesterday I was there, today I was here”