WIST Quotations

Frank, Anne -- Diary (1943-01-13) [tr. Massotty (1995)]

Dave — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 05:52:17 +0000

Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. They’re allowed to take only a knapsack and a little cash with them, and even then, they’re robbed of these possessions on the way. Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared. Women return from shopping to find their houses sealed, their families gone.

[Buiten is het verschrikkelijk. Dag en nacht worden die arme mensen weggesleept, met niets anders bij zich dan een rugzak en wat geld. Deze bezittingen worden hun onderweg ook nog ontnomen. De gezinnen worden uit elkaar gerukt, gesplitst in mannen, vrouwen en kinderen. Kinderen, die van school naar huis komen, vinden hun ouders niet meer. Vrouwen, die boodschappen doen, vinden bij haar thuiskomst haar huis verzegeld, haar familie verdwenen.]

Anne Frank (1929–1945) German-Dutch Jewish diarist
Diary (1943-01-13) [tr. Massotty (1995)]

(Source (Dutch)). Another translation:

It is terrible outside. Day and night mor of those poor miserable people are being dragged off, with nothing but a rucksack and a little money. On the way they are deprived even of these possessions. Families are torn apart, the men, women, and children all being separated. Children coming home from school find their parents have disappeared. Woemn return from shopping to find their homes shut up and their families gone.
[tr. Mooyaart-Doubleday (1951)]

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Column (1947-10-29), “My Day”

Dave — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 18:54:42 +0000

What is going on in the Un-American Activities Committee worries me primarily because little people have become frightened and we find ourselves living in the atmosphere of a police state, where people close doors before they state what they think or look over their shoulders apprehensively before they express an opinion.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, activist; First Lady of the US (1933–45)
Column (1947-10-29), “My Day”

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Speech (1941-03-29), Jackson Day Radio Broadcast, U.S.S. Potomac

Dave — Thu, 01 May 2025 15:47:38 +0000

In our country, disagreements among us are expressed in the polling place. In the dictatorships, disagreements are suppressed in the concentration camp.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman; US President (1933–45)
Speech (1941-03-29), Jackson Day Radio Broadcast, U.S.S. Potomac

Griswold, Whitney -- “Freedom, Security, and the University Tradition,” speech, Columbia University Bicentennial (1954-06-02)

Dave — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 22:10:57 +0000

The surest safeguard against treason is a polity so just and equitable that no one will wish to betray it. Such an inspiration of men’s affection and men’s confidence is a more dependable guarantee of national security than the most searching catechism or the most diligent secret police. As we depart from this principle we confess our weakness, to our enemies as well as to ourselves. As we are faithful to it we realize our strength and show it to the world.

Whitney Griswold (1906–1963) American historian, educator [Alfred Whitney Griswold]
“Freedom, Security, and the University Tradition,” speech, Columbia University Bicentennial (1954-06-02)

Reprinted in Griswold, In the University Tradition (1957).

Goni, Uki -- “‘Silence Is Health’: How Totalitarianism Arrives,” New York Review of Books (20 Aug 2018)

Dave — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 20:13:55 +0000

The transition from day to night is bewilderingly swift. Despite what many assume, civilized coexistence in a culture of tolerance is not always the norm, or even universally desired. Democracy is a hard-won, easily rolled back state of affairs from which many secretly yearn to be released.

Uki Goñi (b. 1953) Argentine historian, author
“‘Silence Is Health’: How Totalitarianism Arrives,” New York Review of Books (20 Aug 2018)

Arendt, Hannah -- Essay (1969-02-27), “Reflections on Violence,” ch. 4, The New York Review of Books

Dave — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 05:15:33 +0000

The climax of terror is reached when the police state begins to devour its own children, when yesterday’s executioner becomes today’s victim.

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Essay (1969-02-27), “Reflections on Violence,” ch. 4, The New York Review of Books

Revised and collected in On Violence, ch. 2 (1970). See Büchner (1835).

Macaulay, Thomas Babington -- Southey’s Colloquies on Society (1830)

Dave — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:18:57 +0000

There is surely no contradiction in saying that a certain section of the community may be quite competent to protect the persons and property of the rest, yet quite unfit to direct our opinions, or to superintend our private habits.

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859) English writer and politician
Southey’s Colloquies on Society (1830)