Arms Race Quotes

“Sometimes it's appropriate to scream at them.”
― Dr. Helen Caldicott

“Real arms races are run by highly intelligent, bespectacled engineers in glass offices thoughtfully designing shiny weapons on modern computers. But there's no thinking in the mud and cold of nature's trenches. At best, weapons thrown together amidst the explosions and confusion of smoky battlefields are tiny variations on old ones, held together by chewing gum. If they don't work, then something else is thrown at the enemy, including the kitchen sink - there's nothing "progressive" about that. At its usual worst, trench warfare is fought by attrition. If the enemy can be stopped or slowed by burning your own bridges and bombing your own radio towers and oil refineries, then away they go. Darwinian trench warfare does not lead to progress - it leads back to the Stone Age.”
― Michael J. Behe, The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism

“The struggle for power had reached a new stage; it was fought with scientific formulas. The weapons vanished in the abyss like fleeting images, like pictures one throws into the fire....

When new models were displayed to the masses at the great parades on Red Square in Moscow or elsewhere, the crowds stood in reverent silence and then broke into jubilant shouts of triumph....

Though the display was continual, in this silence and these shouts something evil, old as time, manifested itself in man, who is an outsmarter and setter of traps. Invisible, Cain and Tubalcain marched past in the parade of phantoms.”
― Ernst Jünger, The Glass Bees

“Arms control is by definition a rejection of disarmament.”
― David Dellinger

“The arms race between [predators] and [prey] is asymmetric, in which success on either side is felt as failure by the other side, but the nature of the success and failure on the two sides is very different. The two sides are 'trying' to do very different things. [Predators] are trying to eat [prey]. [Prey] are not trying to eat [predators], they are trying to avoid being eaten by [predators].
From an evolutionary point of view asymmetric arms races are more [likely] to generate highly complex weapons systems.”
― Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design

“I think, ladies and gentlemen, and I particularly address those of you who have a socialist outlook, that we should at least permit this socialist economy to prove its superiority. Let's allow it to show that it is advanced, that it is omnipotent, that it has defeated you, that it has overtaken you. Let us not interfere with it. Let us stop selling to it and giving it loans. If it's all that powerful, then let it stand on its own feet for ten or fifteen years. Then we will see what it looks like. I can tell you what it will look like. I am being quite serious now. When the Soviet economy will no longer be able to deal with everything, it will have to reduce its military preparations. It will have to abandon the useless space effort and it will have to feed and clothe its own people. And the system will be forced to relax.

Thus, all I ask of you is that as long as this Soviet economy is so proud, so flourishing, and yours is so rotten and so moribund—stop helping it. When has a cripple ever helped along an athlete?”
― Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Warning to the West

“There is no Situation in which Arms can get an Answer. Arms only ensure, that there would Never be an Answer.”
― Vineet Raj Kapoor

“Online pornography allows individuals to explore creative sexual possibilities they never knew existed but also creates entirely unrealistic expectations for real life sexual interactions.”
― David M. Buss, When Men Behave Badly: The Hidden Roots of Sexual Deception, Harassment, and Assault

“This is Communism's view of war. War is necessary. War is an instrument for achieving a goal.

But unfortunately for Communism, this policy ran up against the American atomic bomb in 1945. Then the Communists changed their tactics and suddenly became advocates of peace at any cost.”
― Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Warning to the West

“You have theoreticians who say, "The U.S. must stop the process of nuclear armament. We have enough already. Today America has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the other half of the world. Why should we need more than that?" Let the American nuclear specialists reason this way if they want, but for some reason the nuclear specialists of the Soviet Union—and the leaders of the Soviet Union—think differently.”
― Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Warning to the West

“Sir Edward Grey echoed this: More than one true thing may be said about the causes of the war, but the statement that comprises most truth is that militarism and the armaments inseparable from it made war inevitable. Armaments were intended to produce a sense of security in each nation – that was the justification put forward in defence of them. What they really did was to produce fear in everybody.”
― Jonathan Glover, Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century

“War ain’t peace.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Şehit Sevda Society: Even in Death I Shall Live

“Humanity needs three major revolutions: Firstly, the revolution of the elimination of arms production all over the world. Secondly, the revolution of abandonment of all religions while keeping only a small number of spiritual grounds, such as the concept of god or the spirit of the universe. And thirdly, the revolution of killing death by a powerful mobilization of science!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“Many a warlord engages a spiritualist to influence the outcome of a war he is involved in. A priest may consecrate a campaign, and may even join the soldiers on the battlefield in a total effort to shore up their fighting spirit; a spell-caster is hired to curse the wretched enemy. But as the war drags on and divine intervention proves hopelessly distant, an Abettor is sought.

A self-appointed admiral, the Abettor is versed in the art of modern warfare, developments in armaments, the strengths and weaknesses of warring parties in his domain, and, above all, is the deciding factor in the most prickly situations. Driven by his passion for a fair fight more than any personal reward or gratification, a good Abettor thinks nothing of abetting both belligerents in a given engagement.

A celebrated Abettor came to the rescue of Count Ashenafi. A slight man with wooden dentures, the war broker had spent many of his ninety-three years crisscrossing territories, often with little regard for political borders, in search of a war to sponsor. He was a living archive: at his fingertips were all the battles that had been fought in his vast domain for the past six centuries and the strategies and tactics that had endured through generations. He was well acquainted with the armaments and able-bodied men within reach of not just princes and kings but also the lesser war-makers—feudal lords.

A quick study of human nature, the Abettor realized that men may endure without bread and water but not without war, and so he made it his calling to afford them a fair and refreshing combat. He spent his days and nights sniffing for gunpowder, carrying on his back his worldly possessions of an old rifle, the Holy Scriptures, an extra copy of the Book of Hymns, and a small sacrifice for the road. He slept while walking. Having adjusted his needs to the ever-shifting clime, he could go without food or water for up to six months. Only in times of abundant harvest did he answer the call of nature.

Though many brave men had sought him out in times of pressing need, the war patriarch had failed to earn their affection. A few of the people he had so diligently served had conspired to put him out of service in the most hideous ways. In an ordinary year, he could expect to be stabbed to death twice. Once, an army of retreating archers shot him with ninety-five arrows. On three different occasions, he was carved into palm-sized pieces and his remains served to hawks and storks; he was also known to have been buried alive. But, each time, the old man resurfaced in some remote corner of the kingdom in one piece, invigorated by his ordeal, ready to influence the outcome of another raging war.”
― Nega Mezlekia, The God Who Begat a Jackal: A Novel

“When love overwhelms all rigidity, arms dealers will mourn and sob.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Giants in Jeans: 100 Sonnets of United Earth

“If the anti-vaxxers are conspiracy nuts, which they sure are, so are the politicians, who keep dumping billions and billions of dollars in defense contracts out of sheer primitive insecurity instead of working to organize peace.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Şehit Sevda Society: Even in Death I Shall Live

“You can't organize peace by expanding your military, you organize peace by empowering your citizens.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Şehit Sevda Society: Even in Death I Shall Live

“War Ain’t Peace (The Sonnet)

Hudson, Thames, Nile and Sindhu,
All are now red with the blood of the innocent.
Who is to blame for such catastrophe,
Everybody who accepts arms race as upliftment.
Suited savages have seduced them to believe,
That bigger the military greater the pride.
It’s necessary for politicians to sell nationalism,
Or else their loyal subjects will all get untied.
Acts of national security only breed insecurity,
Which forces people to seek comfort in weapons.
True, lasting stability and serenity of a nation,
Comes only from a universal desire for union.
Let the politicians sell war in the name of peace.
Why must the citizens buy it like rats chasing cheese!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Şehit Sevda Society: Even in Death I Shall Live

“Security brought by guns evaporates fast.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Heart Force One: Need No Gun to Defend Society

“A world that justifies arms race as necessary evil, rightfully deserves all the evil of war it is racked with.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Centurion Sermon: Mental Por El Mundo

“Pick up a broom, not bombs,
Wield a mop, not weapons
of mass destruction.
Sacred minds make sacred society,
Peace comes when the very thought
of arms causes repulsion.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Her Insan Ailem: Everyone is Family, Everywhere is Home

“An insane impatience for death was driving mankind to a second suicide, even before the full effect of the first had been felt.”
― Anna Kavan, Ice

“The American president is actually a sales manager who sells arms to countries by threatening each other.”
― American president and arms business

“Military is Legal Terrorism
(Ceasefire Sonnet)

Any planet that confuses guns
with gallantry is a planet of apes.
Prioritizing military over education,
we only build a world full of terrorists.

Military is just legal terrorism,
To fathom this you gotta be human.
What do monkeys know of peace and love,
When guns are their emblem of patriotism!

We don't need civilian disarmament,
We need absolute universal disarmament.
Only a worldwide ban on firearms production,
Can facilitate a paradigm of peaceful coexistence.

Let's see which nation has the heart and backbone,
To legislate absolute ban on firearms manufacture!
Let's see who are the first civilized people,
Let's see which nation is the first peacemaker!

What's the point of one ceasefire,
Let's pull the plug on all war.
Let's disband all military, and siphon
those funds to housing, education and healthcare.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn

“We don't need civilian disarmament,
We need absolute universal disarmament.
Only a worldwide ban on firearms production,
Can facilitate a paradigm of peaceful coexistence.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn

“Let's disband all military, and siphon those funds to housing, education and healthcare.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn

“Game theory explains how in multi-player systems, views and behaviour patterns that harm all players nevertheless manage to take root and spread. Arms races are a famous example. Many arms races bankrupt all those who take part in them, without really changing the military balance of power. When Pakistan buys advanced aeroplanes, India responds in kind. When India develops nuclear bombs, Pakistan follows suit. When Pakistan enlarges its navy, India counters. At the end of the process, the balance of power may remain much as it was, but meanwhile billions of dollars that could have been invested in education or health are spent on weapons.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“Prioritizing military over education, we only build a world full of terrorists.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn

“Armistice Sonnet

Ceasefire is a diplomatic gimmick,
They cease only to hit back harder.
Demilitarization is what we need,
We got no use for one more ceasefire.

Ceasefire only postpones war,
disarmament instills peace.
Armistice empowers armament,
demilitarization plants peace.

Tyrants don't call truce to allow aid,
but only to rearm themselves,
so they can call in more ammunition,
from their apely imperialist friends.

One more ceasefire we could do without,
World is wailing for the final ceasefire.
Disown every statesman who prides military,
Builders of military are merchants of murder.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“Ceasefire only postpones war,
disarmament instills peace.
Armistice empowers armament,
demilitarization plants peace.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets