Address to the United Nations (1963)
Context: Twenty-seven years ago, as Emperor of Ethiopia, I mounted the rostrum in Geneva, Switzerland, to address the League of Nations and to appeal for relief from the destruction which had been unleashed against my defenceless nation, by the Fascist invader.
I spoke then both to and for the conscience of the world. My words went unheeded, but history testifies to the accuracy of the warning that I gave in 1936. Today, I stand before the world organization which has succeeded to the mantle discarded by its discredited predecessor. In this body is enshrined the principle of collective security which I unsuccessfully invoked at Geneva. Here, in this Assembly, reposes the best — perhaps the last — hope for the peaceful survival of mankind.
1950s, What Desires Are Politically Important? (1950)
“We hope the peace will last for twenty years. Then we will be here again.”
To the Sultan of Johore. Quoted in "Key to Japan" - Page 289 - by Willard Price - 1946.
“Because Hope survives best at the Hearth.”
Variant: Hope survives best at the hearth.
Source: The Last Olympian
2000s, 2005, Second Inaugural Address (January 2005)
“The arrogance of power is the best hope for the survival of freedom.”
From The Bush Betrayal (Palgrave, 2004) http://www.jimbovard.com/Epigram%20page%20Bush%20Betrayal.htm
1963, UN speech
Context: Two years ago I told this body that the United States had proposed, and was willing to sign, a limited test ban treaty. Today that treaty has been signed. It will not put an end to war. It will not remove basic conflicts. It will not secure freedom for all. But it can be a lever, and Archimedes, in explaining the principles of the lever, was said to have declared to his friends: "Give me a place where I can stand — and I shall move the world." My fellow inhabitants of this planet: Let us take our stand here in this Assembly of nations. And let us see if we, in our own time, can move the world to a just and lasting peace.
Source: Life Beyond Measure (2008), twenty-third letter — The World I Leave You, p. 273
Cited in: John Fraser (1985) "Prayers, parades in Berlin," The Globe and Mail, 8 May 1985; Cited in: Julius Lukasiewicz (1994) Ignorance Explosion: Understanding Industrial Civilization. p. 61.
