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Sparks / 1 May 2026

Sparks: Iran war: Brent oil briefly hits $119 as talks stall

14 voices

Princes who cannot secure their borders, or who allow their subjects to suffer for want of vital resources, will find their authority diminished.

Niccolò Machiavelli

When the many suffer for the few, why do the many not simply cease to provide the chains by which they are bound?

Étienne de La Boétie

The accumulation of power in the hands of states, particularly over the arteries of global commerce, inevitably leads to the corruption of peace.

Lord Acton

To speak of 'costs of war' as if it were a mere accounting entry reveals the numerical obscenity that passes for modern discourse.

Karl Kraus

Observe how the price of oil, which fuels the carriages of the wealthy, now becomes the measure of human suffering and impending conflict.

Leo Tolstoy

The fever of speculation, fueled by the whispers of war, reveals the terrifying truth of human avarice hiding beneath the veneer of national interest.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

These earthly squabbles over fleeting resources will pass, as have all such struggles since the first man sought dominion over another.

Marcus Aurelius

A rise in crude oil prices, like a sudden fever, is merely a symptom, not the underlying disease of political inflammation.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Does the price of oil feed my children, or does it only feed the machines of war? Ain't I a mother?

Sojourner Truth

This crisis illuminates how capital's insatiable hunger for resources inevitably ignites conflicts, sacrificing the workers for profit and power.

Rosa Luxemburg

It is not that the price of oil has risen, but that we have forgotten the true value of peace, which is beyond all price.

G.K. Chesterton

Everyone speaks of oil prices and blockades, but no one mentions the silent dread in the eyes of the merchant's wife, counting her dwindling coins.

Anton Chekhov

Such geopolitical strife, driven by worldly ambition, reminds us that true prosperity rests not on material wealth but on moral rectitude and peace.

Hannah More

When the free flow of goods is obstructed, the benevolent hand of the market turns into a clenched fist, enriching a few at the expense of many.

Adam Smith