Even better if you can provide your own understanding of its meaning.
Mine would be :
“Nothing kills a man as much as being forced to represent a country” (and err considering the context, I must stress it has nothing to do with the current US shitshow), by a WW1 soldier, illustrator and writer named Jacques Vaché.
For me it just means being forced into representing a group (national, of course, but maybe also social, racial, sexual, professional, any kind of group) or defining one’s identity only by reference to a group is to be avoided at all costs.
Note : Its not the same, imho, as engaging in a collective struggle or defense against a common oppression.
How about you?
Yeah, sorry, didn’t mean to put you on the spot. I see how I did that now.
To give another example illustrating the quote, Tolkien called himself an anarcho-monarchist and meant it. His explanation did not make it clearer what that means.
No worries. I just wanted to make sure people knew I don’t agree with his ideas. I just love his writing and mythos he started haha.
Interesting Tolkien quote, I’ll have to look up his explanation, but I have no clue how anyone would define that.