WIST Quotations

Arendt, Hannah -- On Revolution, Introduction (1963)

Dave — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 21:58:54 +0000

To sound off with a cheerful “give me liberty or give me death” sort of argument in the face of the unprecedented and inconceivable potential of destruction in nuclear warfare is not even hollow; it is downright ridiculous. Indeed it seems so obvious that it is a very different thing to risk one’s own life for the life and freedom of one’s country and one’s posterity from risking the very existence of the human species for the same purpose that it is difficult not to suspect the defenders of the “better dead than red” or “better death than slavery” slogans of bad faith.
Which of course is not to say the reverse, “better red than dead,” has any more to recommend itself; when an old truth ceases to be applicable, it does not become any truer by being stood on its head.
As a matter of fact, to the extent that the discussion of the war question today is conducted in these terms, it is easy to detect a mental reservation on both sides. Those who say “better dead than red” actually think: The losses may not be as great as some anticipate, our civilization will survive; while those who say “better red than dead” actually think: Slavery will not be so bad, man will not change his nature, freedom will not vanish from the earth forever. In other words, the bad faith of the discussants lies in that both dodge the preposterous alternative they themselves have proposed; they are not serious.

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
On Revolution, Introduction (1963)

Kolbert, Elizabeth -- The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, ch. 9 “Islands on Dry Land” (2014)

Dave — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 19:24:26 +0000

One of the defining features of the Anthropocene is that the world is changing in ways that compel species to move, and another is that it’s changing in ways that create barriers — roads, clear-cuts, cities — that prevent them from doing so.

Elizabeth Kolbert (b. 1961) American journalist and author
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, ch. 9 “Islands on Dry Land” (2014)

Ehrlich, Paul -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 22:02:32 +0000

In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the limb on which it perches.

Paul Ehrlich (b. 1932) American conservation biologist and ecologist
(Attributed)

All citations for this I found are from a reference in Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, ch. 13 (2014), to a sign in the American Museum of Natural History's Hall of Biodiversity which "offers a quote from the Stanford ecologist Paul Ehrlich," giving the above text.

I was unable to find the phrase in Ehrlich's written work, though it could be from a speech, media comment, etc.

In Ehrlich's One with Ninevah: Politics, Consumption, and the Human Future (2005), the epigraph for chapter 2 is a quotation from William R. Catton, Jr., Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change, ch. 2 (1980), regarding Earth's finite non-renewable resources:

This fact puts mankind out on a limb which the activities of modern life are busily sawing off.

This might be the source of a misattribution to Ehrlich, though the context is not quite the same, and the metaphor of sawing off the branch one is sitting on is not unique to Ehrlich or Cotton. More research is needed.

Kennedy, John F. -- Speech, United Nations (23 Sep 1961)

Dave — Wed, 25 May 2016 17:24:27 +0000

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) American politician, author, journalist, US President (1961–63)
Speech, United Nations (23 Sep 1961)

Speech written by Theodore "Ted" Sorensen.

Adams, Douglas -- Last Chance to See, ch. 6 (1990) [with Mark Carwardine]

Dave — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 14:45:31 +0000

It’s easy to think that as a result of the extinction of the dodo, we are now sadder and wiser, but there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that we are merely sadder and better informed.

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Last Chance to See, ch. 6 (1990) [with Mark Carwardine]

The source BBC Radio documentary (1989-10-25) can no longer be played at the BBC site.

Adams reading the 1992 audiobook can be heard here.

Roosevelt, Theodore -- A Book-Lover’s Holidays in the Open, ch. 10 “Bird Reserves at the Mouth of the Mississippi” (1916)

Dave — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 13:33:45 +0000

Birds should be saved because of utilitarian reasons; and, moreover, they should be saved because of reasons unconnected with any return in dollars and cents. A grove of giant redwoods or sequoias should be kept just as we keep a great and beautiful cathedral. The extermination of the passenger pigeon meant that mankind was just so much poorer; exactly as in the case of the destruction of the cathedral at Rheims. And to lose the chance to see frigate-birds soaring in circles above the storm, or a file of pelicans winging their way homeward across the crimson afterglow of the sunset, or a myriad terns flashing in the bright light of midday as they hover in a shifting maze above the beach — why, the loss is like the loss of a gallery of the masterpieces of the artists of old time.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer; US President (1901–09)
A Book-Lover’s Holidays in the Open, ch. 10 “Bird Reserves at the Mouth of the Mississippi” (1916)

Stevenson, Adlai -- Speech (1952-09-29), “Fireside Chat” (radio and television broadcast)

Dave — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:49:44 +0000

Nature is indifferent to the survival of the human species, including Americans.

Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-09-29), “Fireside Chat” (radio and television broadcast)

Reported in the Washington Evening Star (1952-09-30). Also reported in TIME Magazine, "National Affairs: Stevenson on Communism" (1952-10-13)