John Green Quotes
I told myself – as I’ve told myself before – that the body shuts down when the pain gets too bad, that consciousness is temporary, that this will pass. But just like always, I didn’t slip away. I was left on the shore with the waves washing over me, unable to drown.
Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars. Dutton Books, 2012, p. 105.
In the 18th Century, the Islamic Barbary States combined their religious beliefs for Jihad against non believers with a classic criminal enterprise. They would authorize cosairs to outfit ships and attack Christian merchant ships on the high seas. They would capture the ship and the cargo, which would be split with the ruler of the country. The crew and passengers would by “rented out” as slaves until they would be ransomed, the proceeds of which would also be shared. To motivate a larger ransom, the captives were regularly tortured as well as worked almost to death. The Barbary Pirates encouraged the “slaves” to write to their relatives, friends and governments to try and raise the ransom. O’Brien’s ship was captured in 1785. He had been a slave for 4 years when he wrote this. See for a quote from a letter he sent Congress. Finally, after 10 years, O’Brien and those of his crew that were still alive were finally freed. O’Brien’s unusual experience and knowledge of the Barbary States qualified him as an expert and he was then appointed Consul-General to Algiers. Individual Christian countries were offered a “treaty” whereby for an annual payment of tribute to the Barbary country, the corsairs of that country would not attack ships flying their flag. The Christian country had to make 4 different tribute payments to each of the Barbary nations. Most of the European powers were paying the tribute even though some could easily defeat the Corsair navies in a war. The cost of outfitting a fleet for war was much more costly than paying the tribute. The new nation of the United States was good pickings for the Barbary pilots and there was a period of several decades where the Americans had to create a policy to pay tribute or go to war. At different times America did both.
John Michael Green is an American author and YouTube content creator. He won the 2006 Printz Award for his debut novel, Looking for Alaska, and his fourth solo novel, The Fault in Our Stars, debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list in January 2012. The 2014 film adaptation opened at number one at the box office. In 2014, Green was included in Time magazine's list of The 100 Most Influential People in the World. Another film based on a Green novel, Paper Towns, was released on July 24, 2015.
