"I was to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think ... As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him."
— David Halberstam, on witnessing the Self-Immolation of Thich Quang Duc. (A Buddhist monk protesting persecution of Vietnamese Buddhists in 1963)
This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.
—Sir Charles Napier
"Did you hear when they destroyed the two Buddhas...what would Buddah do? Nothing. What does a Buddhist terrorist do? Goes in the middle of the street, takes the gas—fwoosh!—self-barbecue. People killing each other in the name of God are going, 'The fuck are you doing?!' 'Making you deal with your shit.'"
—Robin Williams, Live on Broadway
"You know what this is? What I'm going to do? You want light? Fine. I'll give you light."
— Stephen Appleton, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
