“One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve. In the gulf crisis, it is crucial that we look beyond our anger at Saddam and remind ourselves of precisely what U.S. interests are in the crisis and what we seek to accomplish.”

—  Paul Nitze

Source: War Whether We Need It Or Not? (1991)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Feb. 20, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve. In the gulf crisis, it is c…" by Paul Nitze?
Paul Nitze photo
Paul Nitze 2
American government official 1907–2004

Related quotes

Tom Lehrer photo

“"Life is like a sewer — what you get out of it depends on what you put into it." It's always seemed to me that this is precisely the sort of dynamic, positive thinking that we so desperately need today in these trying times of crisis and universal brouhaha.”

Tom Lehrer (1928) American singer-songwriter and mathematician

Introduction to "We Will All Go Together When We Go"
An Evening (Wasted) With Tom Lehrer (1959)

“The mid-life crisis is when we think that work is what gives meaning to our lives.”

Gian Domenico Borasio (1962) physician, specialist of palliative medicine

"It's not about dying", TEDxCHUV address (13 November 2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5WYNf1td-4

Ken Robinson photo
Sheikh Hasina photo

“What do you want, that I should start crying, ‘Oh, crisis, we have a crisis!’ Do you want that?”

Sheikh Hasina (1947) Prime Minister of Bangladesh

When a journalist asked whether she believed the election had thrust the country deeper into political instability. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/world/asia/matriarchs-duel-for-power-threatens-to-tilt-bangladesh-off-balance.html (January 15, 2014)

Greta Thunberg photo
Fritjof Capra photo
Robert Skidelsky photo

“To understand the crisis we need to get beyond the blame game. For at the root of the crisis was not failures of character or competence, but a failure of ideas.”

Robert Skidelsky (1939) Economist and author

Source: John Maynard Keynes: The Return of the Master (2009), Ch. 1 : What Went Wrong?

John F. Kennedy photo
Harry Emerson Fosdick photo

“One of the widest gaps in human experience is the gap between what we say we want to be and our willingness to discipline ourselves to get there.”

Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American pastor

Also quoted in The Heart of Goodness : A Radiant Path to a Richer, Fuller Life (1999) by Jo Ann Larsen
Living Under Tension (1941)
Context: No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No stream or gas drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined. One of the widest gaps in human experience is the gap between what we say we want to be and our willingness to discipline ourselves to get there.

Related topics