The action we take and the decisions we make in this decade will have consequences far into this century. If America shows weakness and uncertainty, the world will drift toward tragedy. That will not happen on my watch.
George W. BushRead
We are not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind before. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions - by abandoning every value except the will to power - they follow in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way, to where it ends: in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote criticizes ideologies that prioritize power over human life, warning against the dangers of totalitarianism.
George W. Bush highlights the dangers of radical ideologies that prioritize their extreme visions over human life, drawing a connection to the historical atrocities committed under fascism and Nazism. He cautions that those who embrace such ideologies are repeating the mistakes of the past and will ultimately face consequences that lead to their ideologies being revealed as empty and deceptive.
Themes
PowerIdeologyTotalitarianismHistoryHuman Life
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about the relevance of historical lessons in modern politics.
More from George W. Bush
All quotes →Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror. The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness and a quiet, unyielding anger.
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Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended.
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Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people.
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Adoption was such a positive alternative to abortion, a way to save one life and brighten two more: those of the adoptive parents.
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Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me."
George W. BushRead
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