141
" There has never been a just [war], never an honorable one--on the part of the instigator of the war. I can see a million years ahead, and this rule will never change in so many as half a dozen instances. The loud little handful--as usual--will shout for the war. The pulpit will--warily and cautiously--object--at first; the great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, 'It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it.' Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers--as earlier--but do not dare say so. And now the whole nation--pulpit and all--will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception. "
― Mark Twain , The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories
142
" The Cylon War is long over, yet we must not forget the reasons why so many sacrificed so much in the cause of freedom. The cost of wearing the uniform can be high, but... [very long pause] sometimes it's too high. You know, when we fought the Cylons, we did it to save ourselves from extinction. But we never answered the question " Why?" Why are we as a people worth saving? We still commit murder because of greed and spite, jealousy, and we still visit all of our sins upon our children. We refuse to accept the responsibility for anything that we've done, like we did with the Cylons. We decided to play God, create life. And when that life turned against us, we comforted ourselves in the knowledge that it really wasn't our fault, not really. You cannot play God then wash your hands of the things that you've created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore. "
150
" ...Now let's set the record straight. There's no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there's only one guaranteed way you can have peace—and you can have it in the next second—surrender. Admittedly, there's a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face—that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand—the ultimatum. And what then—when Nikita Khrushchev has told his people he knows what our answer will be? He has told them that we're retreating under the pressure of the Cold War, and someday when the time comes to deliver the final ultimatum, our surrender will be voluntary, because by that time we will have been weakened from within spiritually, morally, and economically. He believes this because from our side he's heard voices pleading for " peace at any price" or " better Red than dead," or as one commentator put it, he'd rather " live on his knees than die on his feet." And therein lies the road to war, because those voices don't speak for the rest of us. You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin—just in the face of this enemy? Or should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the cross? Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard 'round the world? The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well it's a simple answer after all. You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, " There is a price we will not pay." " There is a point beyond which they must not advance." And this—this is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater's " peace through strength." Winston Churchill said, " The destiny of man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we're spirits—not animals." And he said, " There's something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty." You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness... "
155
" Political language … is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one’s own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase – some jackboot, Achilles’ heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno or other lump of verbal refuse – into the dustbin where it belongs. "
― George Orwell
156
" I have always said which politics is ugly, still i would like to tell let's have no faith in politics and don't trust politician. see what is going on in our world most important in our own country, can you really see? people are getting killed or losing their life for the false and wrong purposes of those ugly politician. i can expect more worse the situation then it is right now, and I am pretty sure I won't be disappointed. i wish our fellow humans specially our nation understand that we will never be able to build our country by making war everywhere, as i always said that with war we can not bulid our country, make our nation life better and bring a positive change in our society or our world. with war we only destroy our country, killing our fellow human beings and even destroying humanity inside of ourselves. Let's understand that we have a group of wrong and ugly people which we call them ( politician ). they are trying to do whatever they can and it take even the let lots of people to die for their own purpose to get what they want. they will never be able to bring peace by what they are busy doing so please come join me and let's say (No) to war and not only with words but we need to show it practically in our life , Let's not to pick up guns and refuse to go War. We need to have faith in God and follow the right path that he showed us. Let's spread love among human beings. Remember that if you keep having faith in politics and politician, i promise that you will see more difficult time and more worse then how it is now. Let's stop making excuses, having faith in God, asking him for help and following the right path that he showed us. "
157
" Conversation between a princess and an outlaw: " If I stand for fairy-tale balls and dragon bait--dragon bait--what do you stand for?" " Me? I stand for uncertainty, insecurity, bad taste, fun, and things that go boom in the night." " Franky, it seems to me that you've turned yourself into a stereotype." " You may be right. I don't care. As any car freak will tell you, the old models are the most beautiful, even if they aren't the most efficient. People who sacrifice beauty for efficiency get what they deserve." " Well, you may get off on being a beautiful stereotype, regardless of the social consequences, but my conscience won't allow it." " And I goddamn refuse to be dragon bait. I'm as capable of rescuing you as you are of rescuing me." " I'm an outlaw, not a hero. I never intended to rescue you. We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves. "
