It is not only the living who are killed in war.
Interpretation
War affects not just those who die but also the living who endure its consequences.
Isaac Asimov's quote highlights the profound and lasting impact of war on individuals and society, suggesting that the repercussions of conflict extend beyond immediate casualties. It draws attention to the psychological, emotional, and social toll that war takes on survivors, emphasizing that the scars of violence endure long after the fighting has ceased.
In practice
During a memorial speech, one might reflect on the broader implications of conflict and use this quote to provoke thought.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.
Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in the Universe is amenable to the scientific process.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the popularized version of Heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism.
A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.
During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.
Wherever the European has trod, death seems to pursue the aboriginal.
Depression is so treacherous - it can be so alluring as well as punishing. After all, it's yours and yours alone - no one else can interfere with it.
Since I am convinced that I wrong no one, I am not likely to wrong myself.
Through my school years, I learned more about slavery, anti-black racism, and oppression in the U.S., and my blackness could no longer be an afterthought. I started wearing it proudly, and as my consciousness deepened, so did my love for black folks.
[The purpose of a written constitution is] to bind up the several branches of government by certain laws, which, when they transgress, their acts shall become nullities; to render unnecessary an appeal to the people, or in other words a rebellion, on every infraction of their rights, on the peril that their acquiescence shall be construed into an intention to surrender those rights.
If we were faultless we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate.
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