Margaret MacMillan Quotes

The real abhorrent consequence of the invention of atomic bombs is the fact that we still have them and they're spreading.

The days are gone forever when our enemies could blackmail us with nuclear bombs.

I think all of you know there is no adequate defense against massive nuclear attack.

I say in all sincerity that the nuclear arms race has no military purpose. Wars cannot be fought with nuclear weapons; their existence only adds to our perils because of the illusions which they have generated.

We were fortunate to have the Russians as our childhood enemies. We practiced hiding under our desks in case they had the temerity to drop a nuclear weapon.

Even with the best intentions, you can have a nuclear war, a nuclear holocaust, through miscalculation, through accidents.

My feelings of revulsion and foreboding about nuclear weapons had not changed an iota since 1945, and they have never left me. Since I was 14, the overriding objective of my life has been to prevent the occurrence of nuclear war.

So I ask the nuclear powers to abandon the out-of-date thinking of the Cold War period and take a fresh look. Above all, I appeal to them to bear in mind the long-term threat that nuclear weapons pose to humankind and to begin action towards their elimination.

If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is make the rubble bounce.

But the nuclear powers still cling tenaciously to their weapons.

It's a near miracle that nuclear war has so far been avoided.

This means that the only function of nuclear weapons, while they exist, is to deter a nuclear attack.

Nut With A Nuke

A nuclear weapon is not just a football that you can use at will.

There is only one thing worse than one nation having the atomic bomb -- that's two nations having it.

This diffusion of nuclear weapons is terrible…terrible. Imagine a world with a large number of states with nuclear bombs.

Every thinking person fears nuclear war, and every technological nation plans for it.

We are still at the stumbling stage in atomic weapons.

The lethal possibility of such atomic action in the future is frightening, and while we are the first to have it in our possession, there is a certainty that it will in the future be developed by potential enemies and that it will probably be used against us.

We do not believe that a nuclear war should be fought and we do not believe that a nuclear war can be won.

The lesson of history is when a war starts every nation will ultimately use whatever weapon it has available. ... Therefore, we must expect that if another war — a serious war — breaks out, we will use nuclear energy in some form.

Nuclear weapons are the greatest national security risk to the United States, and they are the most important weapons in our arsenal.

If we made atomic bombs, we would bring about a terrible change in the world. Who knows what would happen from this?

To me, nuclear weapons are the secret crisis of our time. Frankly, everyone needs to reread John Hersey's 'Hiroshima.'

If atomic bombs are to be added as new weapons to the arsenals of a warring world, or to the arsenals of nations preparing for war, then the time will come when mankind will curse the names of Los Alamos and of Hiroshima.