Society and the World

War seems to me a mean, contemptible thing: I would rather be hacked in pieces that take part in such an abominable business.

I know people in Germany whose private lives are guided by virtually unbounded altruism, but who were awaiting the declaration of unlimited submarine warfare with the greatest impatience… These people must be shown that it is necessary to have consideration for non-Germans as worthy equals, that it is essential to earn the trust of foreign countries, in order to be able to exist, that the goals that one sets for oneself cannot be achieved through force and treachery.

I know people in Germany whose private lives are guided by virtually unbounded altruism, but who were awaiting the declaration of unlimited submarine warfare with the greatest impatience… These people must be shown that it is necessary to have consideration for non-Germans as worthy equals, that it is essential to earn the trust of foreign countries, in order to be able to exist, that the goals that one sets for oneself cannot be achieved through force and treachery.

I know people in Germany whose private lives are guided by virtually unbounded altruism, but who were awaiting the declaration of unlimited submarine warfare with the greatest impatience… These people must be shown that it is necessary to have consideration for non-Germans as worthy equals, that it is essential to earn the trust of foreign countries, in order to be able to exist, that the goals that one sets for oneself cannot be achieved through force and treachery.

Force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels.

Force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels.

The psychological roots of war are, in my opinion, biologically rooted in the aggressive nature of the male creature… Some animals—the bull and the rooster—surpass us in this regard.

America is incomparably less endangered by its own Communists than by the hysterical hunt for the few Communists that are here.

America is incomparably less endangered by its own Communists than by the hysterical hunt for the few Communists that are here.

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted in important affairs.

The Nuremberg Trial of the German war criminals was tacitly based on the recognition of the principle: Criminal actions cannot be excused if committed on government orders; conscience supersedes the authority of the law of the state.

The Nuremberg Trial of the German war criminals was tacitly based on the recognition of the principle: Criminal actions cannot be excused if committed on government orders; conscience supersedes the authority of the law of the state.

If I were to be president, sometimes I would have to say to the Israeli people things they would not like to hear.

If I were to be president, sometimes I would have to say to the Israeli people things they would not like to hear.

The German calamity of years ago repeats itself: people acquiesce without resistance and align themselves with the forces of evil.

The German calamity of years ago repeats itself: people acquiesce without resistance and align themselves with the forces of evil.

Thus I came… to a deep religiosity, which, however, found an abrupt ending at the age of 12. Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true… Suspicion against every kind of authority grew out of this experience—an attitude which has never again left me.

He who is untrue to his own cause cannot command the respect of others.

There is no other salvation for civilization and even for the human race than in the creation of a world government, with the security of nations founded upon law. As long as there are sovereign states with their separate armaments and armament secrets, new world wars cannot be avoided.

There is no other salvation for civilization and even for the human race than in the creation of a world government, with the security of nations founded upon law. As long as there are sovereign states with their separate armaments and armament secrets, new world wars cannot be avoided.

Any government is in itself an evil insofar as it carries within it the tendency to deteriorate into tyranny.

The attempt to combine wisdom and power has only rarely been successful, and then only for a short while.

A forced faithfulness is a bitter fruit for all concerned.

The only justifiable purpose of political institutions is to assure the unhindered development of the individual… That is why I consider myself to be particularly fortunate to be an American.