# Quote — B. Traven, The Death Ship

> People who do not know what hard work really means and do nothing but just figure out new laws against criminal syndicalism and against communist propaganda usually say, when they see a man at hard work: "Oh, these guys are used to it, they don't feel it at all. They have no refined thinking-capacity, as we have. The chain-gang means nothing to them; it's just like a vacation."
>
> They use that speech as a dope to calm their consciences, which, underneath, hurt them when they see human beings treated worse than mules. But there is no such thing in the world as getting used to pain and suffering. With that "Oh, they are used to that!" people justify even the beating of defenseless police-prisoners. Better kill them; it is truly more merciful.

- Author: [B. Traven](https://www.leafyquotes.com/b-traven.md)
- Book: [The Death Ship](https://www.leafyquotes.com/b-traven/the-death-ship.md)
- Page: 132
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/B._Traven#The_Death_Ship_(1926)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/b-traven/the-death-ship/people-who-do-not

## More from this book

> Ordinary people can never fall over the walls, because they never dare climb high enough to see what is beyond the walls.

p. 190 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/b-traven/the-death-ship/ordinary-people-can.md)

> Bravery on the battlefield? Don't make me laugh. Bravery on the field of work. Here, of course, you don't get any medals; no mention in the report, either. You are no hero here. Just a bum. Or a communist always making trouble and never satisfied with the conditions as ordered by the Lord himself to help the profits.

p. 174 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/b-traven/the-death-ship/bravery-on-the.md)

> [After the war] The governments thought it wiser, finally, to make up again. Time had come when all governments were convinced it would be cheaper and more profitable to talk peace and wait for a better chance. The burglars and gangsters sat down to an elegant peace-banquet. The workers, and the little plain people of all countries, had to pay the damages that is, the hospital bills, the funeral expenses, the tombs for unknown soldiers, and the bills for all the banquets and conferences which left everybody in the world, save the hotel-owners, exactly where they had been before. And all those little people, who had, not profits, but all the losses and all the deaths, were now allowed to wave flags and handkerchiefs at the victorious armies coming back covered with glory and everlasting fame.

p. 153 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/b-traven/the-death-ship/after-the-war.md)