Paul Fussell

“The tourist is a great leveler. From the point of view of a tourist, there are no classes.”

“The opposite of war isn't peace, it's civilization.”

“Every war is ironic because every war is worse than expected.”

“The past is not the present. It is not a guide to the future.”

“We are all proletarian now.”

“For the past seventy-five years I've been inquiring into the nature of insubordination.”

“The appeal of the past is deceptive. It is a past that has been so tidied up and presented in such a way that it is a pleasure to contemplate.”

“Satire is a lesson, parody is a game.”

“The great secret of social success is a strict adherence to the trivial.”

“Irony is the attendant of hope.”

“One of the immutable laws of class is that an upper-class accent is a powerful tool for intimidating the lower classes.”

“Advertising is the incredibly crude and simple-minded force that has added enormously to the gaiety of life and the beauty of the world.”

“Experience is a poor guide to man, and is seldom followed.”

“Understanding the past is a prerequisite for understanding the present.”