WIST Quotations

Teller, Edward -- “Atom Alphabet,” Alamogordo Daily News (14 Nov 1957)

Dave — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 15:15:14 +0000

A stands for atom; it is so small
No one has ever seen it at all.

B stands for bombs; the bombs are much bigger.
So, brother, do not be too fast on the trigger.

F stands for fission; that is what things do
When they get wobbly and big and must split in two.
And just to confound the atomic confusion
What fission has done may be undone by fusion.

H has become a most ominous letter;
It means something bigger, if not something better.

S stands for secret; you can keep it forever —
Provided there’s no one abroad who is clever.

Edward Teller (1908–2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
“Atom Alphabet,” Alamogordo Daily News (14 Nov 1957)

Attributed to Teller, as composed for his children. More discussion and sources: Edward Teller's "Atom Alphabet" (<=1946) : unsong.

King, Martin Luther -- “Rediscovering Lost Values,” Sermon, Second Baptist Church, Detroit (28 Feb 1954)

Dave — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 22:10:08 +0000

And the great danger facing us today is not so much the atomic bomb that was created by physical science. Not so much that atomic bomb that you can put in an aeroplane and drop on the heads of hundreds and thousands of people — as dangerous as that is. But the real danger confronting civilization today is that atomic bomb which lies in the hearts and souls of men, capable of exploding into the vilest of hate and into the most damaging selfishness — that’s the atomic bomb that we’ve got to fear today. Problem is with the men. Within the heart and the souls of men. That is the real basis of our problem.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
“Rediscovering Lost Values,” Sermon, Second Baptist Church, Detroit (28 Feb 1954)

Frankl, Viktor -- Man’s Search for Meaning (1959)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.

Viktor Frankl (1905–1997) German-American psychologist, writer
Man’s Search for Meaning (1959)