We have ancient habits to deal with, vast structures of power, indescribably complicated problems to solve. But unless we abdicate our humanity altogether and succumb to fear and impotence in the presence of the weapons we have ourselves created, it is as possible and as urgent to put an end to war and violence between nations as it is to put an end to poverty and racial injustice.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
It is far more important to be able to hit the target than it is to haggle over who makes a weapon or who pulls a trigger
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us
—Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British Head of State
Over any such tangled wave of problems the S-1 secret would be dominant and yet we will not know until after that time probably, until after that meeting, whether this is a weapon in our hands or not.
—Henry L. Stimson (1867–1950) American Political leader, Military Leader, Lawyer
With the monstrous weapons man already has, humanity is in danger of being trapped in this world by its moral adolescents
—Omar Bradley (1893–1981) American Military Leader
Human curiosity, the urge to know, is a powerful force and is perhaps the best secret weapon of all in the struggle to unravel the workings of the natural world.
—Aaron Klug (1926–2018) English Chemist, Biophysicist
Knowledge is a weapon. I intend to be formidably armed
—Terry Goodkind (1948–2020) American Author of Fantasy Fiction
Often times I have hated in self-defense; if I were stronger I would not have used such a weapon.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
It was the removing of a regime that was hostile, that clearly had the intention of constructing weapons systems
—Stephen Harper
An atom-blaster is a good weapon, but it can point both ways.
—Isaac Asimov (1920–92) Russian-born American Writer, Scientist
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader
The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
A weapon is an enemy even to its owner.
—Turkish Proverb
All nuclear weapon states should now recognize that this is so, and declare – in Treaty form – that they will never be the first to use nuclear weapons. This would open the way to the gradual, mutual reduction of nuclear arsenals, down to zero.
—Joseph Rotblat (1908–2005) British Physicist, Activist
The printing press is the greatest weapon in the armoury of the modern commander.
—T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935) British Soldier, Scholar, Writer
It’s not enough to be able to pick up a sword. You have to know which end to poke into the enemy.
—Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English Fantasy Writer
Anyone who has to fight, even with the most modern weapons, against an enemy in complete command of the air, fights like a savage against modern European troops, under the same handicaps and with the same chances of success.
—Erwin Rommel (1891–1944) German Soldier
Just as invasion is the true and tried weapon in the hands of capital against the class struggle, so on the other hand the fearless pursuit of the class struggle has always proven the most effective preventative of foreign invasions
—Karl Liebknecht (1871–1919) German Barrister, Politician, Revolutionary
Weapons are like money; no one knows the meaning of enough.
—Martin Amis (b.1949) British Novelist, Journalist
So, we need to delegitimize the nuclear weapon, and by de-legitimizing… meaning trying to develop a different system of security that does not depend on nuclear deterrence
—Mohamed ElBaradei (b.1942) Egyptian Diplomat
Books won’t stay banned. They won’t burn. Ideas won’t go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education.
—Alfred Whitney Griswold (1906–63) American Historian, Educator
On the justification for the war, it wasn’t related to finding any particular weapon of mass destruction
—Stephen Harper
Words are weapons, and it is dangerous in speculation, as in politics, to borrow them from the arsenal of the enemy
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
The pen is a formidable weapon, but a man can kill himself with it a great deal more easily than he can other people
—George D. Prentice (1802–70) American Journalist, Editor
Humour is the weapon of unarmed people: it helps people who are oppressed to smile at the situation that pains them.
—Simon Wiesenthal (1908–2005) Austrian Jewish Investigator of Nazi War Crimes
We may find in the long run that tinned food is a deadlier weapon than the machine-gun.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
The terror created by weaponry has never stopped men from employing them.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have.
—Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American Head of State
Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things, that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. Military and economic power is necessarily wielded by people.
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chinese Statesman
The pen is mightier than the sword—only if the sword is very small and the pen is very sharp
—Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English Fantasy Writer
May their weapons fall from their (hands), may they be unable to lay the arrow on (the bow)! And then (our) arrows shall smite them, badly frightened, in their vital members
—The Vedas Sacred Books of Hinduism
Courage and conviction are powerful weapons against an enemy who depends only on fists or guns. Animals know when you are afraid; a coward knows when you are not.
—David Seabury (1885–1960) American Psychologist
I don’t know the weapons that will be used in the Third World War, but in the Forth, men will use wood and stones.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party.
—Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) Soviet Leader
Fervor is the weapon of choice of the impotent.
—Frantz Fanon (1925–61) French-Martinique Psychoanalyst, Philosopher
Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Science burrows its insulted head in the filth of slaughterous inventions
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
The knife is the most permanent, the most immortal, the most ingenious of man’s creations. The knife was a guillotine; the knife is a universal means of resolving all knots…
—Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884–1937) Russian Novelist, Journalist
No weapon has ever settled a moral problem. It can impose a solution but it cannot guarantee it to be a just one
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
A sword is never a killer, it is a tool in the killer’s hands
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.
—Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) Soviet Leader
Probably it is impossible for humor to be ever a revolutionary weapon. Candide can do little more than generate irony.
—Lionel Trilling (1905–75) American Literary Critic
Since I couldn’t actuate the things that I wanted to do, the only weapon I had was to say no
—Sidney Poitier (1927–2022) Bahamanian-American Actor
We are in the grip of a scientific materialism, caught in a vicious cycle where our security today seems to depend on regimentation and weapons which will ruin us tomorrow.
—Charles Lindbergh (1902–74) American Aviator, Inventor, Conservationist
Propaganda is a soft weapon; hold it in your hands too long, and it will move about like a snake, and strike the other way.
—Jean Anouilh (1910–87) French Dramatist
As a teacher of Greek I gave the intellectual man weapons against the common man. I now want to give the common man weapons against the intellectual man
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Above all, I regret that scientific experiments—some of them mine—should have produced such a terrible weapon as the hydrogen bomb. Regret, with all my soul, but not guilt.
—Harold Urey (1893–1981) American Chemist
Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur