# Quote — Max Brooks, World War Z

> Lies are neither bad nor good. Like a fire they can either keep you warm or burn you to death, depending on how they're used. [...] The truth was that we were standing at what might be the twilight of our species and that truth was freezing a hundred people to death every night. They needed something to keep them warm. And so I lied, and so did the President, and every doctor and priest, every platoon leader and every parent. "We're going to be okay." That was our message. That was the message of every other filmmaker during the war. [...] There's a word for that kind of lie. Hope.

- Author: [Max Brooks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks.md)
- Book: [World War Z](https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks/world-war-z.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/World_War_Z#Part_V:_Home_Front_USA) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks/world-war-z/lies-are-neither

## More from this book

> We were in Hammond, Indiana, scouting defenses for the siege of Chicago. He spied a house at the end of a deserted street, completely intact except for boarded up windows and a crashed-in front door. He got a look on his face, a grin. We should have known way before he dropped out of formation, before we heard the shot. He was sitting in the living room, in this worn, old easy chair, SIR between his knees, that smile still on his face. I looked up at the pictures on the mantlepiece. It was his home.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks/world-war-z/we-were-in-hammond.md)

> For the first time in history, we faced an enemy that was actively waging total war. They had no limits of endurance. They would never negotiate, never surrender. They would fight until the very end because, unlike us, every single one of them, every second of every day, was devoted to consuming all life on Earth. That's the kind of enemy we had waiting for us beyond the Rockies. That's the kind of war we had to fight.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks/world-war-z/for-the-first.md)

> The Hospital.. that was our shining moment... the Hospital. [...] An advance team broke through without realizing what was on the other side. They could have withdrawn, blown the tunnel, sealed them in again... One squad against three hundred zombies. One squad led by my baby brother. His voice was the last thing we heard before their radio went silent. His last words: "On ne passe pas!"

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks/world-war-z/the-hospital-that.md)