WIST Quotations

Berry, Wendell -- Speech (1968-02-10), “A Statement Against the War in Vietnam,” Kentucky Conference on the War and the Draft, University of Kentucky

Dave — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 20:03:48 +0000

However, I do belong in the fullest sense of the word to a large group that is having a vast and ever-increasing effect on the world. It is known as the human race. I am aware that as a member of that group I am in the worst possible company: communists, fascists and totalitarians of all sorts, militarists and tyrants, exploiters, vandals, gluttons, ignoramuses, murderers, thieves, and liars, men for whose birth the creation is worse off and for whose lives other men will still be suffering a hundred years from now. The price of admission to this group is great, and until death not fully known. The cost of getting out is extreme. I find, therefore, no reasonable alternative to membership. But since I am a member on such exacting terms, I will not allow my involvement with this group to remain accidental, but will give my whole allegiance to it and work for its betterment.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Speech (1968-02-10), “A Statement Against the War in Vietnam,” Kentucky Conference on the War and the Draft, University of Kentucky
(Source)

Collected in The Long-Legged House, Part 2 (1969).

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Patriot,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Dave — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 18:41:01 +0000

PATRIOT, n. One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to those of the whole. The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Patriot,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
(Source)

Originally published in the "Cynic's Word Book" column in the New York American (1904-12-26) and the "Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Examiner (1904-01-03).

Those newspaper versions also included:

A person whose zeal for the defense of his country’s altars and fires is not inconsistent with a fierce desire to cross the border to overturn the altars and extinguish the fires of another land.

See Bierce's definition of "Patriotism."

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

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