Philip Gourevitch

The West's post-Holocaust pledge that genocide would never again be tolerated proved to be hollow, and for all the fine sentiments inspired by the memory of Auschwitz, the problem remains that denouncing evil is a far cry from doing good.

This is what fascinates me most in existence: the peculiar necessity of imagining what is, in fact, real.

Genocide, after all, is an exercise in community building.

I couldn't help thinking how well Cain had prospered after killing his brother: he founded the first city--and, although we don't like to talk about it all that much, we are all his children.