Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Danger

"Security is mostly superstition. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright experience. Life is either daring adventure or nothing." -

"When written in Chinese the word "crisis" is composed of two characters - one represents danger and the other represents opportunity." - John F. Kennedy, fully John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy

"During the first period of a man's life the greatest danger is: not to take the risk. When once the risk has really been taken, then the greatest danger is to risk too much. By not risking at first one turns aside and serves trivialities; in the second case, by risking too much, one turns aside to the fantastic, and perhaps to presumption." - Søren Kierkegaard, fully Søren Aabye Kierkegaard

"I know that there is one God in heaven, the Father of all humanity, and heaven is therefore one. I know that there is one sun in the sky, which gives light to all the world. As there is unity in God, and unity in the light, so is there unity in the principles of freedom. Whatever it is broken, wherever a shadow is cast upon the sunny rays of the sun of liberty, there is always danger of free principles everywhere in the world." - Louis Kossuth, also Lajos Kossuth, fully Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva

"That danger which is despised arrives the soonest." - Laberius, full name Decimus Laberius NULL

"There is nothing so unfortunate as entering lightly into battle, for by so doing we are in danger of losing that which is most precious." -

"The danger of education, I have found, is that it so easily confuses means with ends. Worse than that, it quite easily forgets both and devotes itself merely to the mass production of uneducated graduates - people literally unfit for anything except to take part in an elaborate and completely artificial charade which they and their contemporaries have conspired to call “life.”" - Thomas Merton

"There’s not so much danger in a known foe as a suspected friend." - Nabb NULL

"The nearer any disease approaches to a crisis, the nearer it is to a cure. Danger and deliverance make their advances together; and it is only in the least push that one or the other takes the lead." - Thomas Paine

"Danger comes the sooner when it is despised." - Publius Syrus

"Throughout history there has never been an evitable war. The greatest danger of war always lies in the widespread acceptance of its inevitability." - James Paul Warburg

"All true educators since the time of Socrates and Plato have agreed that the primary objective of education is the attainment of inner harmony, or, to put it into more up-to-date language, the integration of the personality. Without such an integration learning is no more than a collection of scraps, and the accumulation of knowledge becomes a danger to mental health." - Alfred Zimmern, fully Sir Alfred Eckhard Zimmern

"The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern." - John Dalberg-Acton, Lord Acton, fully John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

"What is threatened today is moral liberty, conscience, respect for the soul, the very nobility of man. To defend the soul, its interests, its rights, its dignity, is the most pressing duty for whoever sees the danger." - Henri Frédéric Amiel

"Perhaps the biggest danger is the way a culture of self-help fosters both feelings of inadequacy and hopes for unattainable ideals… foolproof prescriptions for fulfillment and meaningful lives. The futile quest to become a complete all-round wonderful person, fully in control of our health, wealth and happiness." - Julian Baggini

"It is the uncompromisingness with which dogma is held and not in the dogma or want of dogma that danger lies." - Samuel Butler

"For mankind as a whole, a possession infinitely more valuable than individual life is our genetic heritage, our link with past and future. Shaped through long eons of evolution, our genes not only make us what we are, but hold in their minute beings the future – be it one of promise or threat. Yet genetic deterioration through manmade [chemical and radioactive] agents is the menace of our time, “the last and greatest danger to our civilization.”" - Rachel Carson, fully Rachel Louise Carson

"Courage is of two kinds: first, physical courage, or courage in the presence of danger to the person; and next, moral courage, or courage before responsibility, whether it be before the judgment seat of external authority, or of the inner power, the conscience." - Carl von Clausewitz, fully Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz, also Karl von Clausewitz

"The danger of the cult of technological progress lies in its tendency to restrict and confine mankind within the adoring contemplation of his own creative power." - Jean Daniélou

"The danger of total propaganda will be believed. The danger is that nothing will be believed… The end results of total propaganda are not fanatics, but cynics." - Peter F. Drucker, fully Peter Ferdinand Drucker

"Science has brought this danger, but the real problem is in the minds and hearts of men. We will not change the hearts of other men by mechanisms, but by changing our hearts and speaking bravely… When we are clear in heart and mind – only then shall we find courage to surmount the fear which haunts the world." - Albert Einstein

"There are some passions so close to virtues that there is danger lest we be deceived by the doubtful distinction between them." - Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, sometimes known as Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam

"The only way to get rid of your problem is to change your belief, or reverse the false process of thought. Fear is always present when there is in harmony, and an affirmation will not in itself destroy fear. You must refuse to be intimidated by the seeming danger, whatever it is, and put your reliance on the Love of God. Then fear will begin to go." - Emmet Fox

"The music of life is in danger of being lost in the music of the voice." - Mahatma Gandhi, fully Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, aka Bapu

"The perpetual danger which besets religion is that it may substitute gentility and aestheticism for prophetic insight and power." - Georgia Harkness

"Faith implies no denial of evil, no disregard of danger, no whitewashing of the abominable… Faith is not a mechanical insurance but a dynamic, personal act, flowing between the heart of man and the love of God." - Abraham Joshua Heschel

"The great danger is that liturgy creates a world of things over against the secular, instead of a vision of the sacredness of the secular." - Eric James, fully Canon Eric James

"The more amiably and esprit de corps among the members of a policy-making in-group, the greater is the danger that independent critical thinking will be replaced by groupthink, which is likely to result in irrational and dehumanizing actions directed against out-groups." - Irving L. Janis

"Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold." - Helen Keller. aka Helen Adams Keller

"Security is almost an illusion (or superstition). It does not exist in nature, nor does humankind as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." - Helen Keller. aka Helen Adams Keller

"A multitude is strong while it holds together, but so soon as each of those who compose it begins to think of his own private danger, it becomes weak and contemptible." - Niccolò Machiavelli, formally Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli

"That government is or ought to be instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community; of all the various modes and forms of government, that is best which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured against the danger of mal-administration, and that whenever any government shall be found inadequate, or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish it in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the weal." - George Mason

"The danger of education, I have found, is that it so easily forgets both and devotes itself merely to the mass production of uneducated graduates - people literally unfit for anything except to take part in an elaborate and completely artificial charade which they and their contemporaries have conspired to call “life.”" - Thomas Merton

"When one has too many answers, and when on ejoins a chorus of others chanting the same slogans, there is, it seems to me, a danger that one is trying to evade the loneliness of a conscience that realizes itself to be in an inescapably evil situation. We are under judgment." - Thomas Merton

"Acceptance of death is acceptance of freedom – freedom to live each day with clarity and courage… If we know we are going to die, all danger disappears. There is less fear about what can go wrong, because the worst that can possibly go wrong – our own death – is completely assured. All there is left to do is live, and live well." - Wayne Muller

"The nearer any disease approaches to a crisis, the nearer it is to a cure. Danger and deliverance make their advances together, and it is only the last push that one or the other takes the lead." - Thomas Paine

"In a moment of extreme danger things can be done which have previously been thought impossible. Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas." - Erwin Rommel, fully Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel

"No degree of prosperity could justify the accumulation of large highly toxic substances which nobody knows how to make “safe” and which remain an incalculable danger to the whole of creation for historical or even geological ages. To do such a thing is a transgression against life itself, a transgression infinitely more serious than any crime ever perpetrated by man." - E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

"We are living in a world of fear. The life of man today is corroded and made bitter by fear – fear of the future, fear of the hydrogen bomb, fear of ideologies. Perhaps this fear is a greater danger than the danger itself, because it is fear which drives men to act foolishly, to act thoughtlessly, to act dangerously." - Achmad Sukarno, born Kusno Sosrodihardjo

"We are in danger of confusing the purpose with the process. The meaning of life would not be the goal, but rather the process." - Garrett Thomson

"Nuclear weapons need large facilities, but genetic engineering can be done in a small lab. You can't regulate every lab in the world. The danger is that either by accident or design, we create a virus that destroys us." -

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." -

"To get profit without risk, experience without danger, and reward without work, is as impossible as it is to live without being born." -

"To get profit without risk, experience without danger, and reward without work, is as impossible as it is to live without being born." - Adolph P. Gouthey

"`I don’t want comfort. I want God. I want poetry. I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness, I want sin.’ `In fact,’ said Mustapha Mond, `you’re claming the right to be unhappy.’" -

"`I don’t want comfort. I want God. I want poetry. I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness, I want sin.’ `In fact,’ said Mustapha Mond, `you’re claming the right to be unhappy.’" -

"`I don’t want comfort. I want God. I want poetry. I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness, I want sin.’ `In fact,’ said Mustapha Mond, `you’re claming the right to be unhappy.’" -

"The acceptance of the risk of death and the acceptance of death are very different... The acceptance of the risk of death is the acceptance of life; and love of danger is love of life... The acceptance of risk is a gift you make yourself." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life - knowing that under certain conditions it is not worth-while to live." - Aristotle NULL

"A common danger unites even the bitterest enemies." - Aristotle NULL