A number of recent articles cite crises that threaten our lifestyle, economy, jobs, children and futures. Of course, it is campaign season, and crises are the threat of the hour, especially if the opponent were to be elected. I did some research and have listed some quotations below concerning crises. I couldn’t resist interjecting the global warming crisis.
“You never want a crisis to go to waste,” Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago and Chief of Staff under President Barack Obama.
“When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger, and the other represents opportunity,” President John F. Kennedy.
“Something good comes out of every crisis,” David Pelzer, author.
“It is not a matter of what is true that counts but a matter of what is perceived to be true,” Henry Kissinger, National Security Advisor and Secretary of State under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
“In the present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,” President Ronald Reagan.
“We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis, and the nations will accept the New World Order,” David Rockefeller, former President and CEO of Chase Manhattan Corporation.
“Climate change is the most severe problem that we are facing today – more serious even than the threat of terrorism,” David King, historian and author.
“Global warming threatens our health, our economy, our natural resources, and our children’s future. It is clear we must act,” Eliot Spitzer, former Governor (shortly) of New York.
“Today, we can see with our own eyes what global warming is doing. In that context, it becomes truly irresponsible, if not immoral, for us not to do something,” Joe Lieberman, former U.S. Senator from Connecticut.
“How much damage will have been done before we act?” John McCain, Senator from Arizona.
“Global warming is too serious for the world any longer to ignore its danger or split into opposing factions on it,” Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister.
“All across the world, in every kind of environment and region known to man, increasingly dangerous weather patterns and devastating storms are abruptly putting an end to the long-running debate over whether or not climate change is real. Not only is it real, it’s here, and its effects are giving rise to a frighteningly new global phenomenon: the man-made natural disaster,” President Barack Obama.
“Air conditioners and refrigerators pose as big a threat to life on the planet as the threat of terrorism…It’s hard for some people to grasp it, but what we — you — are doing here right now is of equal importance because it has the ability to literally save life on the planet itself,”John Kerry, Secretary of State.
“I believe that climate change is the greatest global crisis we face, environmental crisis. I believe that if you are serious about climate change, you don’t encourage the extraction and transportation of very dirty oil,” Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont.
“The warnings about global warming have been extremely clear for a long time. We are facing a global climate crisis. It is deepening. We are entering a period of consequences,” former Vice President Al Gore.
“The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow,” H.G. Wells, author.
“If you over-react to a crisis legislatively it generally ends in disaster,” Thomas Watson, Jr., former president of IBM.
“Crisis is the rallying point of the tyrant,” President James Monroe.
“Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? …It is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country,” Hermann Göring, German Reichsmarschall under Adolph Hitler and founder of the Gestapo.
“In a moment of crisis, the wise build bridges; the foolish build dams,” Nigerian proverb.
I hope you have a good month.