At which point, Polly decided that she knew enough of the truth to be going on with. The enemy wasn’t men, or women, or the old, or even the dead. It was just bleedin’ stupid people, who came in all varieties. And no one had the right to be stupid.
However, to set yourself against all the stupidity in the world is an insurmountable task.
“Professor, I have to ask, when you see something all dark and gloomy, doesn’t it ever occur to you to try and improve it somehow? Like, yes, something goes terribly wrong in people’s heads that makes them think it’s great to torture criminals, but that doesn’t mean they’re truly evil inside; and maybe if you taught them the right things, showed them what they were doing wrong, you could change—”
Professor Quirrell laughed, then, and not with the emptiness of before. “Ah, Mr. Potter, sometimes I do forget how very young you are. Sooner you could change the color of the sky.”
That’s an surprisingly forgiving thing to say. She lives in a place where eating legs to prevent starvation is a venerable military tradition, and a non-zero number of people end up in the Girls’ Working School.
Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment
However, to set yourself against all the stupidity in the world is an insurmountable task.
You know, that’s really not so implausible...
Apparently, both particulate air pollution and streetlights are both capable of this.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/08/23/why-is-the-night-sky-turning-red/
Professor Quirrell was not being ironic.
That’s an surprisingly forgiving thing to say. She lives in a place where eating legs to prevent starvation is a venerable military tradition, and a non-zero number of people end up in the Girls’ Working School.