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
We need the courage to face the truth about what we are doing in the world and act responsibly to change it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Facing the truth and taking responsibility are essential for effective change.
This quote emphasizes the importance of courage in recognizing and confronting the realities of our actions in the world. Daniel Ellsberg asserts that we must not only acknowledge the truth about our behaviors but also take responsibility for them in order to create meaningful change, suggesting that passive awareness is insufficient without proactive efforts for improvement.
Themes
CourageTruthResponsibilityChange
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about social justice to inspire action.
More from Daniel Ellsberg
All quotes →There should be at least one leak like the Pentagon Papers every year.
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.
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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
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