WIST Quotations

Brecht, Bertholt -- Poem (1938 ca.), “To Those Born Later [An die Nachgeborenen],” sec. 1, Svendborger Gedichte (1939) [tr. Willet / Manheim / Fried (1976)]

Dave — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 18:17:32 +0000

Truly, I live in dark times!
The guileless word is folly. A smooth forehead
Suggests insensitivity. The man who laughs
Has simply not yet had
The terrible news.
–
What kind of times are they, when
A talk about trees is almost a crime
Because it implies silence about so many horrors?
That man there calmly crossing the street
Is already perhaps beyond the reach of his friends
Who are in need?

[Wirklich, ich lebe in finsteren Zeiten!
Das arglose Wort ist töricht. Eine glatte Stirn
Deutet auf Unempfindlichkeit hin. Der Lachende
Hat die furchtbare Nachricht
Nur noch nicht empfangen.
–
Was sind das für Zeiten, wo
Ein Gespräch über Bäume fast ein Verbrechen ist
Weil es ein Schweigen über so viele Untaten einschließt!
Der dort ruhig über die Straße geht
Ist wohl nicht mehr erreichbar für seine Freunde
Die in Not sind?]

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) German poet, playwright, director, dramaturgist
Poem (1938 ca.), “To Those Born Later [An die Nachgeborenen],” sec. 1, Svendborger Gedichte (1939) [tr. Willet / Manheim / Fried (1976)]
(Source)

Also translated as "To Those Who Follow in Our Wake" and "To Later Generations." Written while Brecht had left Germany for Denmark ("crossing the street").

An audio recording of the poem by Brecht.

(Source (German)). Other translations:

Truly, I live in dark times
The innocent word is suspect.
An unwrinkled forehead
suggests insensitivity.
He who laughs
simply has not heard
the terrible news.
-
What times are these when
a conversation about trees
is almost a crime
because it includes
so much silence
about so many outrages!
[tr. Lettau (1978)]

Truly, I live in dark times!
An artless word is foolish. A smooth forehead
Points to insensitivity. He who laughs
Has not yet received
The terrible news.
-
What times are these, in which
A conversation about trees is almost a crime
For in doing so we maintain our silence about so much wrongdoing!
And he who walks quietly across the street,
Passes out of the reach of his friends
Who are in danger?
[tr. Horton (2008)]

Really, I live in dark times!
Innocent words are foolish. A smooth brow
Betrays insensitivity. Anyone left laughing
Simply has not yet heard
The terrible news.
-
What are these for times, where
A discussion about trees is almost a crime
Because it involves a silence about so many misdeeds!
He there peacefully crossing the street
Is probably no longer reachable for his friends
Who are in need?
[tr. Rienas (2009)]

Really, I live in dark times!
Innocent words are foolish. An unfurrowed brow
Indicates apathy. He who laughs
Just hasn’t yet received
The terrible news.
-
What times are these, in which
A conversation about trees is almost a crime
Because it implies silence about so many misdeeds!
He who quietly crosses the street
Is probably no longer within reach of his friends
Who are in need?
[tr. Renaud (2016)]

Truly, I live in dark times!
Innocent words are foolish. A smooth forehead
shows insensitivity. The guy laughing
has just not received
the terrible news yet.
-
What kind of times are these, where
talking about trees is almost a crime
when it means silence about so many atrocities!
That man calmly crossing the street
is probably no longer reachable by his friends
who need help.

Shulman, Naomi -- Essay (2016-11-17), “No Time To Be Nice: Now Is Not the Moment to Remain Silent,” WBUR, National Public Radio

Dave — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 03:38:31 +0000

Nice people made the best Nazis.
Or so I have been told. My mother was born in Munich in 1934, and spent her childhood in Nazi Germany surrounded by nice people who refused to make waves. When things got ugly, the people my mother lived alongside chose not to focus on “politics,” instead busying themselves with happier things. They were lovely, kind people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away.

Naomi Shulman (contemp.), American writer, essayist, editor
Essay (2016-11-17), “No Time To Be Nice: Now Is Not the Moment to Remain Silent,” WBUR, National Public Radio
(Source)

This is a revised version of the following, more commonly-seen quotation, which I have seen suggested was an earlier iteration of the above on her Facebook account (though it does not appear to be posted there any longer):

Nice people made the best Nazis. My mom grew up next to them. They got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way when things got ugly and focused on happier things than “politics.” They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away. You know who weren’t nice people? Resisters.

The earliest quotation I can find of this earlier version is from 2016-11-13 (followed by these two from 2016-11-22).

Wiesel, Elie -- Forward to Carol Rittner & Sandra Meyers, Courage To Care — Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust (1986)

Dave — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 15:26:37 +0000

Why were there so few? Was it that perilous to oppose evil? Was it really impossible to help? Was it really impossible to resist organized, systemitized, legalized cruelty and murder by showing concern for the victims, for one victim? Let us remember: What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.

Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) Romanian-American novelist, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate.
Forward to Carol Rittner & Sandra Meyers, Courage To Care — Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust (1986)
(Source)

See also King (1963, 1968).

Arendt, Hannah -- Lecture (1965-02-10), “Some Questions of Moral Philosophy,” Lecture 1, New School for Social Research, New York City

Dave — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 18:21:00 +0000

In the discussion of these matters, and especially in the general moral denunciation of the Nazi crimes, it is almost always overlooked that the true moral issue did not arise with the behavior of the Nazis but of those who only “coordinated” themselves and did not act out of conviction. It is not too difficult to see and even to understand how someone may decide “to prove a villain” and, given the opportunity, to try out a reversal of the Decalogue, starting with the command: “Thou shalt kill” and ending with a precept: “Thou shalt lie.”

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Lecture (1965-02-10), “Some Questions of Moral Philosophy,” Lecture 1, New School for Social Research, New York City
(Source)

Collected in Responsibility and Judgment, Part 1 "Responsibility" (2003).

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas -- Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, Prologue (2012)

Dave — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 17:40:46 +0000

If you see fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (b. 1960) Lebanese-American essayist, statistician, risk analyst, aphorist
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, Prologue (2012)
(Source)

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Speech (1876-07-04), “Centennial Oration [The Declaration of Independence],” Peoria, Illinois

Dave — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 20:01:24 +0000

It is not possible for the human imagination to conceive of the horrors of slavery. It has left no possible crime uncommitted, no possible cruelty unperpetrated. It has been practiced and defended by all nations in some form. It has been upheld by all religions. It has been defended by nearly every pulpit. From the profits derived from the slave trade churches have been built, cathedrals reared and priests paid. Slavery has been blessed by bishop, by cardinal, and by pope. It has received the sanction of statesmen, of kings, and of queens. It has been defended by the throne, the pulpit and the bench. Monarchs have shared in the profits. Clergymen have taken their part of the spoils, reciting passages of Scripture in its defence at the same time, and judges have taken their portion in the name of equity and law.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Speech (1876-07-04), “Centennial Oration [The Declaration of Independence],” Peoria, Illinois
(Source)

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas -- The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms, “Ethics” (2010)

Dave — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:03:04 +0000

For soldiers, we use the term “mercenary,” but we absolve employees of responsibility with “everybody needs to make a living.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (b. 1960) Lebanese-American essayist, statistician, risk analyst, aphorist
The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms, “Ethics” (2010)
(Source)

Steiner, George -- “A Kind of Survivor” (1965), Language and Silence: Essays 1958-1966 (1967)

Dave — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 17:03:03 +0000

Men are accomplices to that which leaves them indifferent.

George Steiner (1929-2020) Franco-American literary critic, philosopher, writer, educator
“A Kind of Survivor” (1965), Language and Silence: Essays 1958-1966 (1967)
(Source)

Snyder, Timothy -- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017)

Dave — Thu, 20 May 2021 02:29:24 +0000

If lawyers had followed the norm of no execution without trial, if doctors had accepted the rule of no surgery without consent, if businessmen had endorsed the prohibition of slavery, if bureaucrats had refused to handle paperwork involving murder, then the Nazi regime would have been much harder pressed to carry out the atrocities by which we remember it.

Timothy Snyder (b. 1969) American historian, author
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017)
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1860), “Fate,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 1

Dave — Tue, 05 May 2020 20:33:34 +0000

The way of Providence is a little rude. The habit of snake and spider, the snap of the tiger and other leapers and bloody jumpers, the crackle of the bones of his prey in the coil of the anaconda, — these are in the system, and our habits are like theirs. You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughter-house is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity, expensive races, — race living at the expense of race.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1860), “Fate,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 1
(Source)

Based on a course of lectures by that name first delivered in Pittsburg (1851-03).

Lynn, Jonathan -- Yes Minister, 01×01 “Open Government” (BBC2 Television) (1980-02-25) [with Anthony Jay]

Dave — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 17:18:21 +0000

BERNARD: But surely the citizens of a democracy have a right to know.

SIR HUMPHREY: No. They have a right to be ignorant. Knowledge only means complicity in guilt; ignorance has a certain dignity.

Jonathan Lynn (b. 1943) English actor, comedy writer, director
Yes Minister, 01×01 “Open Government” (BBC2 Television) (1980-02-25) [with Anthony Jay]

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich -- (Spurious)

Dave — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 20:26:29 +0000

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil; God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, martyr
(Spurious)

Frequently attributed to Bonhoeffer, but not found in his works. The origins of its attribution are discussed here, and the phrasing seems to more or less originate with Robert K. Hudnut, A Sensitive Man and the Christ (1971).

Moxon, A. R. -- Essay (2017-01-16), “Sky,” Blogspot

Dave — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 00:22:10 +0000

Historians have a word for Germans who joined the Nazi party, not because they hated Jews, but out of a hope for restored patriotism, or a sense of economic anxiety, or a hope to preserve their religious values, or dislike of their opponents, or raw political opportunism, or convenience, or ignorance, or greed.
That word is “Nazi.” Nobody cares about their motives any more.
They joined what they joined. They lent their support and their moral approval. And, in so doing, they bound themselves to everything that came after. Who cares any more what particular knot they used in the binding?

Andrew R. Moxon (contemp.) American writer, critic [a.k.a. Julius Goat]
Essay (2017-01-16), “Sky,” Blogspot
(Source)

Frequently mis-attributed to Twitter, where Moxxon also posted under his @JuliusGoat handle. The original Julius Goat Blogspot site is no longer online.

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich -- “On Stupidity” (1942)

Dave — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 16:13:24 +0000

The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with him as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, martyr
“On Stupidity” (1942)
(Source)

~Proverbs and Sayings -- German proverb

Dave — Sat, 04 Mar 2017 01:18:13 +0000

He who holds the ladder is as guilty as the thief.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
German proverb

Sewell, Anna -- Black Beauty, Part 3, ch. 33 “Dolly and a Real Gentleman” (1877)

Dave — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 15:57:13 +0000

My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.

Anna Sewell (1820-1878) English novelist
Black Beauty, Part 3, ch. 33 “Dolly and a Real Gentleman” (1877)
(Source)

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Column (1943-08-13), “My Day”

Dave — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 16:27:02 +0000

I know that we will be the sufferers if we let great wrongs occur without exerting ourselves to correct them.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1943-08-13), “My Day”
(Source)

On the persecution of Jews in Europe.

Seneca the Younger -- Troades, l. 290 [tr. Miller (1917)]

Dave — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 14:16:02 +0000

Who, when he may, forbids not sin, commands it.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Troades, l. 290 [tr. Miller (1917)]

Bourget, Paul -- Cosmopolis, ch. 5 (1892) [tr. Arnot (1905)]

Dave — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 13:02:53 +0000

There are conditions of blindness so voluntary that they become complicity.

Paul Bourget (1852-1935) French critic, poet, novelist
Cosmopolis, ch. 5 (1892) [tr. Arnot (1905)]
(Source)

Alternate translation:

There is such a thing as voluntary blindness which is little better than collusion.
[tr. Moffett (1898)]

Tutu, Desmond -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:25:16 +0000

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) South African cleric, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Laureate
(Attributed)

King, Martin Luther -- Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)

Dave — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:50:24 +0000

To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)
(Source)

Murrow, Edward R. -- See It Now (7 Mar 1954)

Dave — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:00:58 +0000

No one man can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.

Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) American journalist
See It Now (7 Mar 1954)
(Source)

Comment to the production team before the episode on Senator Joseph R McCarthy’s Communist witch hunt.

King, Martin Luther -- Sermon, Selma, Alabama (8 Mar 1965)

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

A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Sermon, Selma, Alabama (8 Mar 1965)

Possibly the source of the uncited attributions (or variants) "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" and "The day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die."