James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) Scottish physicist
Encyclopedia Brittanica article, quoted by Patricia Fara in Science A Four Thousand Year History (2009) citing Simon Schaffer article in The Values of Precision (1995) ed. M. Norton Wise
An unpublished paper of 1907, as quoted in The Rising American Empire (1960) by Richard Warner Van Alstyne, p. 201; also quoted in On Power and Ideology (1987) by Noam Chomsky; accounts of this as being from a lecture of 15 April 1907 seem to be incorrect.
1900s
James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) Scottish physicist
Encyclopedia Brittanica article, quoted by Patricia Fara in Science A Four Thousand Year History (2009) citing Simon Schaffer article in The Values of Precision (1995) ed. M. Norton Wise
Clement Attlee (1883–1967) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Speech to the Labour Party Conference in Caxton Hall, London (12 December 1944), quoted in The Times (13 December 1944), p. 2.
War Cabinet
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
Source: Speech in the House of Commons, November 29, 1944 "Debate on the Address" http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1944/nov/29/debate-on-the-address#column_31.
“As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this.”
George Mason (1725–1792) American delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention
August 22
Debates in the Federal Convention (1787)
Context: Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven on a Country. As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes & effects providence punishes national sins, by national calamities.
Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) Duce and President of the Council of Ministers of Italy. Leader of the National Fascist Party and subsequen…
La Lotta di Classe (1910), while a socialist, paraphrasing French socialist Gustave Hervé, quoted in Mussolini in the Making (1938) by Gaudens Megaro
Variant translation: The national flag is a rag that should be placed in a dunghill.
As quoted in Aspects of European History, 1789-1980 (1988) by Stephen J. Lee, p. 191
1910s
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
Speech to a joint session of the Dail and the Seanad, Dublin, Ireland (28 June 1963)
1963
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman
1850s, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (1852)
Context: At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.
Najib Razak (1953) Malaysian politician
Upon assuming office as the sixth prime minister of Malaysia. <br class="br"> Quotable quotes from Najib, NST, 11 Jul 2009 http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/6kon/Article/index_html,
Ralph Bunche (1904–1971) American diplomat
Some Reflections on Peace in Our Time (1950)
Context: There can be peace and a better life for all men. Given adequate authority and support, the United Nations can ensure this. But the decision really rests with the peoples of the world. The United Nations belongs to the people, but it is not yet as close to them, as much a part of their conscious interest, as it must come to be. The United Nations must always be on the people's side. Where their fundamental rights and interests are involved, it must never act from mere expediency. At times, perhaps, it has done so, but never to its own advantage nor to that of the sacred causes of peace and freedom. If the peoples of the world are strong in their resolve and if they speak through the United Nations, they need never be confronted with the tragic alternatives of war or dishonourable appeasement, death, or enslavement.