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About this quote

What does it mean?
Suffering is individual; reducing it to numbers dehumanizes victims and betrays principles.
In plain terms
Each person's pain matters equally; counting them does not make it less.
What can you take from it?
Suffering cannot be quantified without losing empathy.

Where it applies

  • humanitarian crises
  • moral reflection
  • war reporting

Putting it to work

  • focus on individual stories
  • resist dehumanizing metrics
  • practice empathy

Questions to consider

  • How do we quantify pain without losing empathy?
  • What is the cost of abstraction?

Another view

Statistics help mobilize aid and resources.

More from Graham Greene

  1. Sooner or later...one has to take sides - if one is to remain human.

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  2. Cynicism is cheap-you can buy it at any Monoprix store-it's built into all poor-quality goods.

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  3. He'll always be innocent, you can't blame the innocent, they are always guiltless. All you can do is control them or eliminate them. Innocence is a kind of ins…

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