Yevgeny Zamyatin — We [1155]

This was so unexpected, so absurd, that I burst out laughing. At once the tigthly wound spring within me cracked, my hand hung limp, the rod clanked on the floor. And I learned from my own experience that laughter was the most potent weapon: laughter can kill everything—even murder. — Yevgeny Zamyatin, We, 1155

Note

An arresting philosophical pivot delivered with clinical precision.