Quote by Nuclear weapons | TrueQuotes

"Any military commander who is honest with himself, or with those he's speaking to, will admit that he has made mistakes in the application of military power. He's killed people unnecessarily—his own troops or other troops—through mistakes, through errors of judgment. A hundred, or thousands, or tens of thousands, maybe even a hundred thousand. But… he hasn't destroyed nations. And the conventional wisdom is don't make the same mistake twice, learn from your mistakes. And we all do. Maybe we make the same mistake three times, but hopefully not four or five. But there will be no learning period with nuclear weapons. You make one mistake and you're going to destroy nations."

— Nuclear weapons

Quote Details

Added by wikiquote-import-bot

Unverified quote

0 likes

Weapons of mass destruction Nuclear weapons Nuclear

Original Language: English

Available Languages (1)

English (Original)

Sources

Robert McNamara, in The Fog of War (2003)

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons

Revision History

No revisions have been submitted for this quote.

Categories

Weapons of mass destruction Nuclear weapons Nuclear

Nuclear weapons

43 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Nuclear weapons →

Related Quotes

"Once launched, the bomb was absolutely unapproachable and uncontrollable until its forces were nearly exhausted, and …"

— Nuclear weapons

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Nuclear Weapons Nuclear

"May there not be methods of using explosive energy incomparably more intense than anything heretofore discovered? Mig…"

— Nuclear weapons

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Nuclear Weapons Nuclear

"Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that…"

— Nuclear weapons

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Nuclear Weapons Nuclear

"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembe…"

— Nuclear weapons

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Nuclear Weapons Nuclear

"Now we're all sons-of-bitches."

— Nuclear weapons

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Nuclear Weapons Nuclear

"My God, what have we done?"

— Nuclear weapons

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Nuclear Weapons Nuclear

"The use of the atomic bomb with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul."

— Nuclear weapons

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Nuclear Weapons Nuclear

"The American, English and French newspapers are spewing out elegant dissertations on the atomic bomb. We can sum it u…"

— Nuclear weapons

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Nuclear Weapons Nuclear

"The news today about "Atomic bombs" is so horrifying one is stunned. The utter folly of these lunatic physicists to c…"

— Nuclear weapons

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Nuclear Weapons Nuclear

"Man has mounted science, and is now run away with. I firmly believe that before many centuries more, science will be …"

— Nuclear weapons

Weapons Of Mass Destruction Nuclear Weapons Nuclear