The effect of that is to poison the flow of information to the President himself and to create a situation where a President can be almost, to use a metaphor, psychotically divorced from the realities in which he is acting.
Daniel EllsbergRead
I felt that as an American citizen, as a responsible citizen, I could no longer cooperate in concealing this information from the American public. I did this clearly at my own jeopardy and I am prepared to answer to all the consequences of this decision.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of transparency and accountability, even at personal risk.
In this quote, Daniel Ellsberg expresses the moral imperative he felt as a responsible citizen to reveal critical information to the public, despite understanding the potential dangers and consequences of his actions. This highlights the theme of courage in standing up for what one believes is right, even in the face of personal jeopardy.
Themes
TransparencyAccountabilityCourageResponsibilityTruth
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on government accountability, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of whistleblowers.
More from Daniel Ellsberg
All quotes βThere should be at least one leak like the Pentagon Papers every year.
Daniel EllsbergRead
I see Edward Snowden as someone who has chosen, at best, exile from the country he loves-with a serious risk of his assassination by agents of his government or life in prison (in solitary confinement)-to awaken us to the danger of our loss of democracy to a total-surveilla nce state
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EVERY attack now made on WikiLeaks and Julian Assange was made against me and the release of the Pentagon Papers at the time.
Daniel EllsbergRead
If there's another 9/11 or a major war in the Middle-East involving a U.S. attack on Iran, I have no doubt that there will be, the day after or within days an equivalent of a Reichstag fire decree that will involve massive detentions in this country.
Daniel EllsbergRead
We were young, we were foolish, we were arrogant, but we were right.
Daniel EllsbergRead
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No, you sort of have to put that out of your mind. There's always a possibility that you can have a catastrophic failure, of course. This can happen on any flight. It can happen on the last one as well as the first one. You just plan as best you can to take care of all these eventualities, and you get a well-trained crew, and you go fly.
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The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.
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