“A brave nation fights because it must; a cowardly nation fights because it can.”
Ilana Mercer South African writer
“Betraying Brave Boys,” http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31722 WorldNetDaily.com, March 26, 2003. <br class="br">2000s
The Great Illusion (1910)
Context: The fight for ideals can no longer take the form of fight between nations, because the lines of division on moral questions are within the nations themselves and intersect the political frontiers. There is no modern State which is completely Catholic or Protestant, or liberal or autocratic, or aristocratic or democratic, or socialist or individualist; the moral and spiritual struggles of the modern world go on between citizens of the same State in unconscious intellectual cooperation with corresponding groups in other states, not between the public powers of rival States.
“A brave nation fights because it must; a cowardly nation fights because it can.”
Ilana Mercer South African writer
“Betraying Brave Boys,” http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31722 WorldNetDaily.com, March 26, 2003. <br class="br">2000s
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) 32nd President of the United States
1930s, Speech to the Democratic National Convention (1936)
Context: We do not see faith, hope, and charity as unattainable ideals, but we use them as stout supports of a nation fighting the fight for freedom in a modern civilization.
Faith — in the soundness of democracy in the midst of dictatorships.
Hope — renewed because we know so well the progress we have made.
Charity — in the true spirit of that grand old word. For charity literally translated from the original means love, the love that understands, that does not merely share the wealth of the giver, but in true sympathy and wisdom helps men to help themselves.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India
Harijan, 18 April 1942. Quoted from Elst, Koenraad (2018). Why I killed the Mahatma: Uncovering Godse's defence. New Delhi : Rupa, 2018.
1940s
Roberto Mangabeira Unger (1947) Brazilian philosopher and politician
Source: Plasticity Into Power: Comparative-Historical Studies on the Institutional Conditions of Economic and Military Success (1987), p. 12
Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America
2010s, 2016, August, Speech in Jackson, Mississippi (August 24, 2016)
Abd al-Karim Qasim (1914–1963) Prime Minister of Iraq
The historical extempore speech at the Reserve Officers' College (1959)
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) 32nd President of the United States
1930s, Quarantine Speech (1937)
Context: There is a solidarity and interdependence about the modern world, both technically and morally, which makes it impossible for any nation completely to isolate itself from economic and political upheavals in the rest of the world, especially when such upheavals appear to be spreading and not declining. There can be no stability or peace either within nations or between nations except under laws and moral standards adhered to by all. International anarchy destroys every foundation for peace. It jeopardizes either the immediate or the future security of every nation, large or small. It is, therefore, a matter of vital interest and concern to the people of the United States that the sanctity of international treaties and the maintenance of international morality be restored.
“Labor is not fighting for a larger slice of the national pie. Labor is fighting for a larger pie.”
Walter Reuther (1907–1970) Labor union leader
We live in a world in which the common denominator that binds the human family together has been reduced to its simplest fundamental term—human survival.
Source: Writing in The New Republic, Vol. 114 (1946)
Desmond Tutu (1931) South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner
As quoted in "Truth and reconciliation" at BBC Focus on Africa (January-March 2000)
Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918) United States Baptist theologian
Source: Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Ch.1 The Historical Roots of Christianity the Hebrew Prophets, p. 8