This made me cast my useless shield away. Nature's, not honour's, law we must obey: Let who will boast their courage in the field,.Quoted by Plutarch, Customs of the Lacedæmonians. And by a prudent flight and cunning saveĪ life, which valour could not, from the grave.Armistice Day speech (11 November 1948), published in Omar Bradley's Collected Writings, Volume 1 (1967).If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. We have men of science, too few men of God.Anderson, 1980 Presidential Debate, (21 September 1980) The issue of our natural resources the right of posterity to inherit the earth, and what kind of earth will it be? The issue of nationalism - the recognition, he says, that every major problem confronting us is global, and cannot be solved by nationalism here or elsewhere - that is chauvinistic, that is parochial, that is as anachronistic as states' rights was in the days of Jefferson Davis.
If we don't resolve that issue, all others become irrelevant. And he went on to cite three issues that their platforms totally ignore: atomic warfare, Presidential Directive 59 notwithstanding. A great historian, Henry Steele Commager, said that in their lust for victory, neither traditional party is looking beyond November.Martin Amis, The Palace of the End (2003), Essay in The Guardian (4 March 2003).America could perhaps claim to be satisfying the first rule (while admitting that the improvement may be only local and short term). The first rule is that the belligerent nation must be fairly sure that its actions will make things better the second rule is that the belligerent nation must be more or less certain that its actions won't make things worse. There are two rules of war that have not yet been invalidated by the new world order.Martin Amis, Einstein's Monsters (1987), Introduction: "Thinkability".The arms race is a race between nuclear weapons and ourselves.Martin Amis, Einstein's Monsters (1987), "Introduction: Thinkability".The intransigence, it seems, is a function of the weapons themselves. And we can't get rid of nuclear weapons, because of nuclear weapons. How do we prevent the use of nuclear weapons? By threatening the use of nuclear weapons. What is the only established defense against nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. What is the priority target for nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons. What is the only provocation that could bring about the use of nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons.Joseph Addison, Cato, A Tragedy (1713), Act II, scene 1.Charles Francis Adams, Despatch to Earl Russell (Sept.It would be superfluous in me to point out to your Lordship that this is war.Arranged alphabetically by author or source:
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