Pick your poison

French novelist Louise-Ferdinand Celine was born on this day in 1894. In Journey to the End of the Night, he wrote:

"For the poor of this world, two major ways of expiring are available: either by the absolute indifference of your fellow men in peace time, or by the homicidal passion of these same when war breaks out."

So sign up right here on the dotted line

"There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell." -- Speech by William Tecumseh Sherman, Columbus, Ohio, August 11, 1880.

The war on civilization

World War I began on this day in 1914; it ended on this date also, in 1919.

"You can't say that civilization don't advance--in every war they kill you in a new way." -- Will Rogers.



Also on this day, philosopher and writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in 1778. His Confessions can be said to have given birth to the autobiography.

“(Rousseau is)surely the blackest and most atrocious villain, beyond comparison, that now exists in the world.” – David Hume.

The winner: By the hour

The American Civil War began on this day in 1861.

"There they are cutting each other's throats, because one half of them prefer having their servants for life, and the other by the hour." -- Thomas Carlyle.