If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: in love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.
The only phenomenon with which writing has always been concomitant is the creation of cities and empires, that is the integration of large numbers of individuals into a political system, and their grading into castes or classes. It seems to have favored the exploitation of human beings rather than their enlightenment.