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Thoughts to ponder |
| Quotes to ponder as we all search for
wisdom along the way to war
[10-9-02]
WebWeaver's note: This collection came to us
from Witherspooner Bill Knox, and has obviously been circulating on
the Web. So I have no idea who gets the credit for this collection,
nor can I vouch for the authenticity of every quotation. But they're
worth pondering - and quoting.
Do you have thoughts about any of
these thoughts?
Or quotes of your own to share?
Please send a note!
The United States has the power to destroy the world,
but not the power to save it alone.
Margaret Mead
The only security for the American people today, or for any people, is
to be found through the control of force rather than the pursuit of
force.
Norman Cousins
We are citizens of the world; and the tragedy of our times is that we do
not know this.
Woodrow Wilson
To be persuasive, we must be believable,/To be believable, we must be
credible,/To be credible, we must be truthful.
Edward R. Murrow
The tyranny of legislators is at present, and will be for many years,
out most formidable danger. The tyranny of the executive will arise in
its turn, but at a more distant period.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)
The credibility gap is so wide that our suspicions are confirmed by any
official denial.
Laurence J. Peter
There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its
abuses.
Andrew Jackson 1823
In the long-run, every government is the exact symbol of its people,
with their wisdom and unwisdom.
Thomas Carlyle 1843
The guilt of a government is the crime of a whole country.
Thomas Paine
Governments are best classified by considering who are the "somebodies"
they are in fact endeavoring to satisfy.
Alfred North Whitehead
"Terrorism" is what we call the violence of the weak, and we
condemn it; "war" is what we call the violence of the strong,
and we glorify it.
Sydney J. Harris 1986
There is nothing so subject to the inconstancy of fortune as war.
Cervantes Every war has its own excuse. That's why they're all
surrounded with ideals. That's why they're all crusades.
Karl Shapiro 1964
War is the province of chance. In not other sphere of human activity
must such a margin be left for this intruder. It increases the
uncertainty of every circumstance and deranges the course of events.
Karl Von Clausewitz 1962
I don't know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World
War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
Albert Einstein
For what are the triumphs of war, planned by ambition, executed by
violence, and consummated by devastation? The means are the sacrifice of
many, the end, the bloated aggrandizement of the few.
Charles Caleb Colton, 1925
There was never a good war or a bad peace.
Benjamin Franklin
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless,
whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism
or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
Mohandas K. Gandhi
It is easier to lead men to combat and to stir up their passions than to
temper them and urge them to the patient labors of peace.
Andre Gide
Older man declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.
Herbert Hoover
The most shocking fact about war is that its victims and its instruments
are individual human beings, and that these individual beings are
condemned by the monstrous conventions of politics to murder or be
murdered in quarrels not their own.
Aldous Huxley
It is seldom that any one overt act produces hostilities between two
nations; there exists, more commonly, a previous jealousy and ill will,
a predisposition to take offense.
Washington Irving
Small wars are always teetering on the brink of becoming big ones.
Max Lerner
How different the new order would be if we could consult the veteran
instead of the politician.
Henry Miller
War is both the product of an earlier corruption and a producer of new
corruptions.
Lewis Mumford
Against war it may be said that it makes the victor stupid and the
vanquished revengeful.
Neitzche
All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers? Each one owes
infinitely more to the human race than to the particular country in
which he was born
Francois Fenelon (1651 - 1715)
How good bad music and bad reasons sound when one marches against an
enemy!
Nietzsche
He who is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of hell and
opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death.
Thomas Paine
War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen and unsupposed
circumstance that no human wisdom can calculate the end. It has but one
thing certain, and that is to increase taxes.
Thomas Paine
Can anything be more ridiculous that that a man should have the right to
kill me because he lives on the other side of the water, and because his
ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have none with him.
Pascal
The grim fact is that we prepare for war like precocious giants and for
peace like retarded pygmies.
Lester Pearson 1955
I find war detestable but those who praise it without participating in
it even more so.
Romain Rolland 1914
I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and
wives. I hate war.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
No matter how noble the objectives of a government, if it blurs decency
and kindness, cheapens human life, and breeds ill will and suspicion-it
is an evil government.
Eric Hoffer (1954)
To call war the soil of courage and virtue is like calling debauchery
the soil of love.
George Santayana
Though we talk peace, we wage war. Sometimes we even wage war in the
name of peace. Does that seem paradoxical? Well, war is not afraid of
paradoxes.
Elie Wiesel 1990
In our complex world, there cannot be fruitful initiative without
government, but unfortunately there can be government without
initiative.
Bertrand Russell
Do you have thoughts about any of these
thoughts?
Or quotes of your own to share?
Please send a note!
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Some blogs worth
visiting |
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Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott,
who has created this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years
of scholarship and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here,
we present the voices of feminist theologians of all stripes:
scholars, clergy, students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers,
artists, lovers and devotees, from many parts of the world, all
children of the God in whose image women are made. .... This blog
seeks to glorify God through prayer, work, art, and intellectual
reflection. Through articles and ensuing discussion we hope to
become an active and thoughtful community.
Witherspoon’s Facebook page
Mitch Trigger,
Witherspoon’s Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page
where Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own
news and views, or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest
to you.
John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and
philosophical reflections on everything between summit to shore,
including kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy,
theology, politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), New York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by
a progressive New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a member of
the Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North
Presbyterian Church in Flushing, NY.
John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian
minister, currently serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church
of Elizabethton, Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion
(both organized and disorganized), life, evolution, literature,
Jesus, and lightening up.
Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note,
and we'll see what we can do! |
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Plan now for ...
GHOST RANCH PEACE & JUSTICE
WEEK
July 27 - August 2, 2009
Now's the time to make reservations to be a part of
the 2009 Peace & Justice Week at Ghost Ranch, July 27-August 2.
There are eight seminars to choose among, including the
Witherspoon-sponsored class “New Eyes for Peace & Justice from the
World Church” led by Clifton Kirkpatrick.
More
information >> |
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Check out our report from the
Conference
on
Terror, Torture,
and Security |
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