It is difficult at times to repress the thought that history is about as instructive as an abattoir; that Tacitus was right and that peace is merely the desolation left behind after the decisive operations of merciless power.
Seamus Heaney (2014). “Opened Ground: Selected Poems, 1966-1996”, p.422, Macmillan
![It is difficult at times to repress the thought that history is about as instructive as an abattoir; that Tacitus was right and that peace is merely the desolation left behind after the decisive operations of merciless](http://cdn.quoteddaily.com/images/seamus-heaney/it-is-difficult-at-times-to-repress-the-thought-that-history-is-about-as-instructive-as-an-abattoir-that-tacitus.jpg)