We have learned to tolerate the facts of war: that men are killed en masse — some twenty million in the Second World War — that whole cities and their inhabitants are annihilated by the atomic bomb, that men are turned into living torches by incendiary bombs. We learn of these things from the radio or newspapers and we judge them according to whether they signify success for the group of peoples to which we belong, or for our enemies. When we do admit to ourselves that such acts are the results of inhuman conduct, our admission is accompanied by the thought that the very fact of war itself leaves us no option but to accept them. In resigning ourselves to our fate without a struggle, we are guilty of inhumanity.


The Problem of Peace (1954)

Albert Schweitzer Quotes

We have learned to tolerate the facts of war: that men are killed en masse — some twenty million in the Second World War — that whole cities and...

We have learned to tolerate the facts of war: that men are killed en masse — some twenty million in the Second World War — that whole cities and...

We have learned to tolerate the facts of war: that men are killed en masse — some twenty million in the Second World War — that whole cities and...

We have learned to tolerate the facts of war: that men are killed en masse — some twenty million in the Second World War — that whole cities and...