Quotes / Divided We Fall

In war, best know what enemies are around you in your own camp, before you step out to face the foe and wonder why you do so alone.

— The Tactica Imperialis, Warhammer 40,000

If we mean our future guardians to regard the habit of quarrelling among themselves as of all things the basest, should any word be said to them of the wars in heaven, and of the plots and fightings of the gods against one another, for they are not true. No, we shall never mention the battles of the giants, or let them be embroidered on garments; and we shall be silent about the innumerable other quarrels of gods and heroes with their friends and relatives.

— Plato, The Republic

We were for centuries
Downtrodden and derided
Because we were not one people
Because we were divided.

— Il Canto degli Italiani, Italian national anthem.

"It's not going to be the Sh'daar that defeat us. Or their client races. It's going to be the damned Confed politics."

— Rear Admiral Alexander Koenig, Star Carrier: Earth Strike

"This is exactly what the Founders want! Klingon against Cardassian! Federation against Klingon! The more we fight each other, the weaker we'll get, and the less chance we have against the Dominion!"

— Captain Benjamin Sisko, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "The Way of the Warrior"

Hey you, don't tell me there's no hope at all
Together we stand, divided we fall

— Pink Floyd, "Hey You"

“There is a reason ISIL still want to appear so powerful, why they don’t want to acknowledge that the land they control has been taken from weak enemies, that they are pinned down by airstrikes, or that just last weekend they lost a significant part of their territory. ISIL don’t want you to know they would quickly be crushed if they ever faced a proper army on a battlefield.

They want you to fear them. They want you to get angry. They want all of us to become hostile, and here is why – ISIL’s strategy is to split the world into two camps. It is that black and white. Again, we know this because they told us.”

— Waleed Aly, in response to the November 13, 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, France.

The three siblings have a choice: battle the sleeping horrors ready to engulf the world or toil on in the struggle to define those who rule and those who are ruled. The children of the Eye and Pyramid so long to rein, and diabolic rumours follow them like a fouled cloak. Yet despite these ambitions, they have no intention of giving their planet to monsters. Perhaps they will fight back the darkness, and find a tidy profit in it.

And yet, you little termites war with each other over your little termite mounds, and somewhere in the Outer Dark, hungry mouths made of event horizons salivate and grin.

—The Buzzing, The Secret World

Robert: "Which is the bigger number, five or one?"
Cersei: "... Five."
Robert: [Raises an open palm] "Five." [Raises a closed fist] "One. One army, a real army, united behind one leader with one purpose... Our purpose died with the Mad King. Now there're as many armies as there're men with gold in their purses, and everybody wants something different."

—Game of Thrones

"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak up because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak up because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak up because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no-one left to speak up for me."

— Martin Niemoeller

White: 'Bout to go and do my tasks, get this victory
And then this dude asks...
Brown: Hey, why you followin' me?
White: 'Cause you might be the killer! There's vibes that I'm getting
Dude, just do your tasks! Wait, they're probably killing
But anyway, I think-
Brown and White: You kinda sus, my guy
White: Who, me?
Brown: Yeah, I bet you got a rusty knife
You just wanna stab me in the guts, I don't trust you
You must be the impostor, cut the lies
I don't believe you. You got blood-lusting eyes
White: Nah, really dude, I'm just tryin' to fix the wires
Brown: Sure, I know you can't wait until the lights go out
'Cause when it gets dark, that's when the knives come out.
White: Okay, we're in electric, they go out, I'll fix it
But comin' at me, I'll eject you with quickness!
Brown: Hey, watch out behind you!
White: Hey, watch out behind you!
Brown and White's ghosts: Wow, we got double-killed, never mind dude.

— NerdOut, "Impostor Imperceptible"

A lamenting goddess left this prophecy for the five warring kingdoms below: that their world would end in blackest sun-fire.
Yet her prophecy held hope. The goddess promised to all living things, great and small, a saving light to ward off their doom.
But the five kings would not believe her. So one sought strength and found futility; so another sank in mindless wisdom.
In the end, the kings' delusions led them to a chamber of reckoning, where their unspent chaos brought fear and woe to all.
Now, as the boy stands before Eden, the five kings in his wake, the goddess rewards his balanced judgement with her light.

Calne Ca, The Precedent of Hatsune Miku: Machine Muzik, quoting the Eden pins

"I thought the crossbow fitting. You shared so much with Lord Tywin, why not that? Your niece will think the Tyrells had you murdered, mayhaps with the connivance of the Imp. The Tyrells will suspect her. Someone somewhere will find a way to blame the Dornishmen. Doubt, division, and mistrust will eat the very ground beneath your boy king, whilst Aegon raises his banner above Storm’s End and the lords of the realm gather round him."

Varys, A Dance with Dragons

"The more I travel this godforsaken 'Wasteland', the more I realize what truly destroyed West Virginia, and what destroyed any chance the survivors had of...actually surviving: mistrust. All these divergent groups: Responders, Brotherhood of Steel, whatever. Separately, they had everything necessary to beat the odds. Brains, brawn and bravado to spare. And what did they do? Close ranks. Get paranoid. Refuse to work with one another. And it cost them all their lives."

Overseer's Log - Fort Defiance, Fallout 76

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