One theory is that we will make war look so attractive that we undermine the deterrent. That's Never Never Land. What we have now would have been enough to deter Hitler. But we are talking in a different order of reality.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the dangers of romanticizing war, suggesting that it may diminish the effectiveness of deterrence.
Henry A. Kissinger's quote critiques the notion that making war seem appealing could erode its deterrent effect. He draws a comparison to historical contexts, arguing that the current situation is fundamentally different from past realities, such as the deterrence seen during Hitler's time, indicating that how society perceives war has significant implications for international relations and peace.
In practice
This quote can be used in a debate on military strategy to emphasize the risks of glorifying war.
Every civilization that has ever existed has ultimately collapsed. History is a tale of efforts that failed, or aspirations that weren’t realized. So, as a historian, one has to live with a sense of the inevitability of tragedy.
Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God.
It was a Greek tragedy. Nixon was fulfilling his own nature. Once it started it could not end otherwise.
The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.
If peace is equated simply with the absence of war, it can become abject pacifism that turns the world over to the most ruthless.
What political leaders decide, intelligence services tend to seek to justify.
This is the reason we cannot complain of life: it keeps no one against his will.
Kabul is... a thousand tragedies per square mile.
We do not merely perceive objects and hold thoughts in our minds: all our perceptions and thought processes are felt. All have a distinctive component that announces an unequivocal link between images and the existence of life in our organism.
I mean, honestly, we have to be clear that the life for many Afghan women is not that much different than it was a hundred years ago, 200 years ago. The country has lived with so much violence and conflict that many people, men and women, just want it to be over.
The test of a democracy is not the magnificence of buildings or the speed of automobiles or the efficiency of air transportation, but rather the care given to the welfare of all the people.
But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.
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