Notable Quotable 134

Joel Walbert

Oct 27, 2023

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Military glory – that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood – that serpent's eye, that charms to destroy.

- President Abraham Lincoln

No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

- President James Madison

Our country is now geared to an arms econo my bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and an incessant propaganda of fear.

- General Douglas MacArthur

We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security.

- President Dwight Eisenhower

Putting aside all the fancy words and academic doubletalk, the basic reason for having a military is to do two jobs --to kill people and to destroy.

- General Thomas S. Power

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Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow men and from nature. His main aim is profitable exchange of his skills, knowledge, and of himself. Life has no principle except the one of fair exchange, no satisfaction except the one to consume.

- Erich Fromm

All civilization begins in theocracy and ends in democracy.

- Victor Hugo

Whatever passion a man does not bravely war against, is an object of his affection; and it holds him fast, and weighs him down, it becomes to him a hindrance and a fetter, preventing his mind from going up to God...

- St Macarius the Great

The wise men of antiquity, when they wished to make the whole world peaceful and happy, first put their own states into proper order. Before putting their states into proper order, they regulated their own families. Before regulating their families, they regulated themselves. Before regulating themselves, they tried to be sincere in their thoughts. Before being sincere in their thoughts, they tried to see things exactly as they really were.

- Confucius

Technology alienates those who depend on it and live by it. It deadens their human qualities and their moral perceptiveness. Gradually, everything becomes centered on the most efficient use of machines and techniques of production, and the style of life, the culture, the tempo and the manner of existence responds more and more to the needs of the technological process itself. Unfortunately it is too often assumed that the technological process is inevitably rational. This is not the case. It is sometimes highly irrational—to the point that what is good for the process may be very bad indeed for humans.

- Thomas Merton