Quotes about frontier
page 3

Paul von Hindenburg photo

“In case of a resumption of hostilities we are militarily in a position to reconquer, in the east, the province of Posen and to defend our frontier. In the west, we cannot, in view of the numerical superiority of the Entente and its ability to surround us on both flanks, count on repelling successfully a determined attack of our enemies. A favorable outcome of our operations is therefore very doubtful, but as a soldier I would rather perish in honor than sign a humiliating peace.”

Paul von Hindenburg (1847–1934) Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and president of Germany

Letter to Friedrich Ebert after the Treaty of Versailles was presented to Germany (17 June 1919), quoted in Andreas Dorpalen, Hindenburg and the Weimar Republic (Princeton University Press, 1964), p. 39 and John W. Wheeler-Bennett, The Nemesis of Power: The German Army in Politics 1918-1945 (London: Macmillan, 1964), p. 52
Chief of the German General Staff

Gustav Stresemann photo

“We must become so strong and must so ruthlessly weaken our opponents that no enemy will ever dare to attack us again. To achieve this a modification of frontiers in the west as in the east is essential.”

Gustav Stresemann (1878–1929) German politician, statesman, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Speech at a joint meeting of the National Liberal Party and the National Liberal Central Committee (15 July 1915), quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1941), p. 274
1910s

M. K. Hobson photo

“Your frontier ethics are so rawboned, Miss Edwards, as rough-hewn and clumsy as the log cabin in which you must have been raised.”

M. K. Hobson (1969) American writer

Mrs. Stanton’s face was like marble as she spoke; only her lips moved with ugly precision. “Decency is striving for perfection in a world in which every other hoglike creature satisfies himself with sloppiness and indulgence. Decency is not in failing to murder someone. It’s in murdering the right person, and sparing your family the indignity of getting caught.”
Source: The Hidden Goddess (2011), Chapter 13, “Red Hand, Gold-Colored Eye” (pp. 221-222)

Ramnath Goenka photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo
James D. Watson photo

“The brain is the last and grandest biological frontier, the most complex thing we have yet discovered in our universe. It contains hundreds of billions of cells interlinked through trillions of connections. The brain boggles the mind.”

James D. Watson (1928) American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist.

1990s
Source: Foreword for Discovering the Brain (1992) by Sandra Ackerman, p. iii; often paraphrased: "The brain is the most complex thing we have yet discovered in our universe."

Otto von Bismarck photo

“In the development of our tariff I am determined to oppose any modification in the direction of Free Trade, and to use my influence in favour of greater protection and of a higher revenue from frontier duties.”

Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898) German statesman, Chancellor of Germany

Speech to the Reichstag (28 March 1881), quoted in W. H. Dawson, Bismarck and State Socialism: An Exposition of the Social and Economic Legislation of Germany since 1870 (London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1891), p. 54
1880s

Pope John Paul II photo
Felix Adler photo

“We have to change the situation. Everybody is closing his country against the neighbor. We have to open these frontiers to each other and live in one community, one fraternity of people. This is the meaning of Christian life, this the meaning of our religion.”

Samir Nassar (1950)

Syria: Church perseveres in spite of war https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2020-02/syria-church-damascus-bishop-migration-christians-bari.html (20 February 2020)

Nancy Pelosi photo

“We are visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom — that we’re on a frontier of freedom, and that your fight is a fight for everyone. And so our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done.”

Nancy Pelosi (1940) American politician, first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, born 1940

Remarks to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, quoted in "Pelosi makes unannounced trip to Kyiv, becoming highest-ranking US official to meet with Zelensky since the war began" by Michelle Watson and Eliza Mackintosh, CNN https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/01/politics/pelosi-zelensky-kyiv-ukraine-intl/index.html] (1 May 2022)]; also in "Pelosi meets Zelenskyy in Ukraine, says commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done'", Global News (1 May 2022) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga34dmkMwBU

Sevastianos Rossolatos photo

“Our Church needs help. Ours is a mission Church that prays to reawaken values of closeness and solidarity in others. Only in this way can the Mediterranean be a frontier of peace.”

Sevastianos Rossolatos (1944) Greek archbishop

Italian bishops’ meeting on the Mediterranean. Msgr. Rossolatos (Greece): “The courage of peace through the strength of weakness” (11 February 2020) SIR agency https://www.agensir.it/europa/2020/02/11/italian-bishops-meeting-on-the-mediterranean-msgr-rossolatos-greece-the-courage-of-peace-through-the-strength-of-weakness/