In fact, death seems to have been a rather late invention in evolution. One can go a long way in evolution before encountering an authentic corpse.
George WaldRead
The only use for an atomic bomb is to keep somebody else from using one. It can give us no protection - only the doubtful satisfaction of retaliation...
Interpretation
What this quote means
An atomic bomb serves no real protective purpose but acts as a deterrent against its use by others.
This quote by George Wald reflects on the paradox of nuclear weapons, suggesting that while they are meant to provide security, their existence ultimately fosters a sense of doubt and a questionable assurance of deterrence rather than true safety. It highlights the moral and philosophical dilemmas of possessing such destructive capabilities, implying that the only beneficial use lies in preventing others from deploying them, rather than guaranteeing protection.
Themes
NuclearDeterrenceSafetyViolenceRetaliation
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about global disarmament, one could use this quote to emphasize the illusion of safety provided by nuclear weapons.
More from George Wald
All quotes βI have lived much of my life among molecules. They are good company. I tell my students to try to know molecules, so well that when they have some question involving molecules, they can ask themselves, What would I do if I were that molecule? I tell them, Try to feel like a molecule; and if you work hard, who knows? Some day you may get to feel like a big molecule!
George WaldRead
Our challenge is to give what account we can of what becomes of life in the solar system, this corner of the universe that is our home; and, most of all, what becomes of men-all men, of all nations, colors, and creeds. This has become one world, a world for all men. It is only such a world that can now offer us life, and the chance to go on.
George WaldRead
Evolution advances, not by a priori design, but by the selection of what works best out of whatever choices offer. We are the products of editing, rather than of authorship.
George WaldRead
Nuclear weapons offer us nothing but a balance of terror, and a balance of terror is still terror.
George WaldRead
I think if a physician wrote on a death certificate that old age was the cause of death, he'd be thrown out of the union. There is always some final event, some failure of an organ, some last attack of pneumonia, that finishes off a life. No one dies of old age.
George WaldRead
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If you are vigilant and make a stern effort to reject every thought when it rises, you will soon find that you are going deeper and deeper into your own inner self, where there is no need for your effort to reject the thoughts.
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The universe has a body and soul and evolves through cosmic time. As microcosms of stardust, we do the same.
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To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. For anything that men can tell, death may be the greatest good that can happen to them: but they fear it as if they knew quite well that it was the greatest of evils. And what is this but that shameful ignorance of thinking that we know what we do not know?
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Americans think they're the leader of the world and yet can say that they're putting their economic interests ahead of the lives of - quite possibly - tens of millions of people who over the next 50 years will die because of floods or storms or tropical diseases or whatever. I guess that sort of thing makes me angry.
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Who are we, if not measured by our impact on others?
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Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat for it is momentary.
Mahatma GandhiRead