“The living will envy the dead.”

— Nikita Khrushchev

The quote "The living will envy the dead." is famous quote attributed to Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971), First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

The attribution of this widely quoted remark about nuclear war to Khrushchev is disputed in Respectfully Quoted : A Dictionary of Quotations (1989) http://www.bartleby.com/73/1257.html.
In Russia this quote is usually attributed to the translation of Treasure Island by Nikolay Chukovsky: "А те из вас, кто останется в живых, позавидуют мертвым!" ("Those of you who will be still alive will envy the dead", originally: "Them that die'll be the lucky ones"). http://www.chitaem-vmeste.ru/pages/material.php?article=89&
Disputed
No instance of this statement, allegedly in reference to nuclear war, has been found in Khrushchev's writings or documented remarks, as indicated in Respectfully Quoted : A Dictionary of Quotations (1989) http://www.bartleby.com/73/1257.html. Herman Kahn used "the survivors [will] envy the dead" in his 1960 book On Thermonuclear War.

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Nikita Khrushchev 22

First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1894–1971

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