The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Albert Einstein3 quotes
The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe. — Albert Einstein · 1946Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of the situation which has arisen seem to call for watchfulness and if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration. — Albert Einstein · 1939I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two thirds of the people of the earth might be killed, but enough men capable of thinking, and enough books, would be left to start again, and civilization could be restored. — Albert Einstein · 1945Harry Truman3 quotes
Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima... The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East. — Harry Truman · 1945Having found the bomb we have used it. — Harry Truman · 1945The release of atomic energy constitutes a new force too revolutionary to consider in the framework of old ideas. — Harry Truman · 1945Emperor Hirohito2 quotes
The enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is indeed incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, it would not only result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization. Such being the case, how are we to save the millions of our subjects, or to atone ourselves before the hallowed spirits of our imperial ancestors?... It is according to the dictate of time and fate that we have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unavoidable and suffering what is insufferable. — Emperor Hirohito · 1945The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage. — Emperor Hirohito · 1945J. Robert Oppenheimer2 quotes
I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita…"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." — J. Robert Oppenheimer · 1965It did not take atomic weapons to make man want peace, a peace that would last. But the atomic bomb was the turn of the screw. It has made the prospect of future war unendurable. — J. Robert Oppenheimer · 1946William L. Laurence2 quotes
At first it was a giant column that soon took the shape of a supramundane mushroom. — William L. Laurence · 1945A great ball of fire about a mile in diameter, changing colors as it kept shooting upward, from deep purple to orange, expanding, growing bigger, rising as it was expanding, an elemental force freed from its bonds after being chained for billions of years. — William L. Laurence · 1945Bernard Baruch1 quote
Behind the black portent of the new atomic age lies a hope which, seized upon with faith, can work our salvation…we must elect world peace or world destruction. — Bernard Baruch · 1946Dean Rusk1 quote
We're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked. — Dean Rusk · 1962Donald Trump1 quote
North Korean Leader Kim Jung Un just stated that the "Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times." Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works! — Donald Trump · 2018Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson1 quote
Gee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines. — Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson · 1964Hunter1 quote
In my humble opinion, in the nuclear world, the true enemy is war itself. — Hunter · 1995John F. Kennedy1 quote
To those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction. — John F. Kennedy · 1961Mao Zedong1 quote
The atom bomb is a paper tiger which the United States reactionaries use to scare people. It looks terrible, but in fact it isn't... All reactionaries are paper tigers. — Mao Zedong · 1946Norman Mailer1 quote
The world stood like a playing card on edge... One looked at the buildings one passed and wondered if one was to see them again. — Norman Mailer · 1963Omar Bradley1 quote
The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. — Omar Bradley · 1948Ronald Reagan1 quote
We have listened to the wisdom in an old Russian maxim. And I'm sure you're familiar with it, Mr. General Secretary…The maxim is…trust, but verify. — Ronald Reagan · 1987