WIST Quotations

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).

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).

Arendt, Hannah -- Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, ch. 8 (1963)

Dave — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 00:33:57 +0000

And just as the law in civilized countries assumes that the voice of conscience tells everybody, “Thou shalt not kill,” even though man’s natural desires and inclinations may at times be murderous, so the law of Hitler’s land demanded that the voice of conscience tell everybody: “Thou shalt kill,” although the organizers of the massacres knew full well that murder is against the normal desires and inclinations of most people. Evil in the Third Reich had lost the quality by which most people recognize it — the quality of temptation.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, ch. 8 (1963)
(Source)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Speech (1940-12-29), “Fireside Chat: Arsenal of Democracy” (radio broadcast)

Dave — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 01:23:57 +0000

The experience of the past two years has proven beyond doubt that no nation can appease the Nazis. No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb. We know now that a nation can have peace with the Nazis only at the price of total surrender.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Speech (1940-12-29), “Fireside Chat: Arsenal of Democracy” (radio broadcast)
(Source)