"Two world wars were fought to make the world safe for democracy. Today we have to wage a war on all fronts. This war has to be waged in peace time, but it has to be waged as energetically and with as much total national effort as in times of war. The war we have to wage today has only one goal, and that is to make the world safe for diversity. The concept of peaceful coexistence has been criticized by many who do not see the need to make the world safe for diversity. I wonder if they have ever paused to ask themselves the question: What is the alternative to coexistence?"
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Address in 1964, republished in Portfolio for Peace (1968), p. 14
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/U_Thant
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U Thant
U Thant (22 January 1909 – 25 November 1974) was a Burmese diplomat and the third secretary-general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971, the first non-Scandinavian to hold the position. He held the office for a record 10 years and one month. As General Secretary, he hosted diplomatic mediation and peacekeeping missions to resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Congo Crisis, the Vietnam War, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. His death led to student protests against the Burmese military governmen
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