If you’re looking for the best And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East quotes you’ve come to the right place. We compiled a list of 11 quotes that best summarise the message of Richard Engel in And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East. Let these quotes inspire you!
(And check out our page with And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East quotes per category if you only want to read quotes from a certain category, such as funny, life, love, politics, and more).
And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East Quotes
Obviously it was happenstance, but it did change my opinion of human nature. I now saw war as a constant, akin to wildfires. They break out unless you work actively to prevent them. It’s an atavistic thing, buried deep in our DNA.
— Richard Engel, And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
It is a disturbing aspect of human nature that if there is a place where there are no consequences and where the most grotesque murders are tolerated in the name of a cult claiming to be a faith, a certain type of person will be attracted to it.
— Richard Engel, And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
Then someone cried out, “Suicide bomber!” The crowd panicked. In the ensuing stampede, terrified pilgrims ran in both directions, many colliding in the middle of the bridge. A side railing collapsed under their weight, and scores leaped into the water whether they could swim or not. Hundreds were trampled to death. More than a thousand died. Hundreds of pairs of sandals were scattered around the bridge, left behind when pilgrims made their desperate dives into the river. I was given all of seventy-five seconds to tell the story on the Nightly News.
— Richard Engel, And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
I could scarcely believe that my new home was engulfed by war before I even had time to find an apartment. It seemed that war followed me everywhere I went.
— Richard Engel, And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
I may have been in stage four, but I wasn’t completely crazy. At least eighty-six journalists had been killed in Iraq, more than in any other conflict since World War II, and another thirty-eight had been taken hostage. More would die in the years to come. I knew I had to limit my movements and take special care when I did go out.
— Richard Engel, And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
The administration often used the analogy of planting the “seeds of democracy” in the Middle East, as if they’d sprout into democratic regimes as nature took its course. Democracy doesn’t sprout like apple trees. Scattering the seeds isn’t enough, no matter how many soldiers do it. To continue with the gardening analogy the Bush administration seemed to love (there were also many “seeds of terror” and “seeds of hope”), democracy is more like a fragile flower that requires constant attention and the right soil. Dictatorships and fascist regimes are hardy weeds that sprout on their own.
— Richard Engel, And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
Trouble seemed to follow me around. The late Tim Russert, my friend and the esteemed moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, once joked, “Richard, just don’t come to Washington.
— Richard Engel, And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
When I take risks now, I do so only when I have to and with every precaution. I used to prospect for news, dropping into places to see what was up. Well, I could go to parts of Libya today and find lots of good stories, but I probably wouldn’t be around to tell them.
— Richard Engel, And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
From seven hundred journalists at the beginning of March, the number had dwindled to about one hundred and fifty—print reporters, TV correspondents, photographers, cameramen, and support personnel. At the press center I encountered Kazem, who only a week before I had asked for help with my visa. “Why are you staying when everyone else is leaving?” he asked. I took a chance and replied in Arabic. Some journalists, I said, are as samid as the Iraqi people. Samid means “steadfast” and “brave” and is the adjective most often used by Iraqis to describe themselves. Kazem laughed and threw his arm around my shoulder.
— Richard Engel, And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
Reporters go through four stages in a war zone. In the first stage, you’re Superman, invincible. In the second, you’re aware that things are dangerous and you need to be careful. In the third, you conclude that math and probability are working against you. In the fourth, you know you’re going to die because you’ve played the game too long. I was drifting into stage three.
— Richard Engel, And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
In 2015, when I went back to the States or to an international conference, I found that people didn’t much care anymore. They saw the Middle East awash in blood, beyond redemption, and didn’t want to read about it or see it on the evening news. They just wanted to keep away from it.
— Richard Engel, And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish