Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same.
Condoleezza RiceRead
We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of preventing catastrophic outcomes before they happen.
Condoleezza Rice's quote warns against the dire consequences of inaction or complacency in the face of potential threats, using the metaphor of a 'smoking gun' and a 'mushroom cloud' to illustrate the difference between a minor warning and a devastating disaster. It suggests that one should address and resolve problems before they escalate to a point of irreversible harm.
Themes
PreventionThreatDisasterActionCaution
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about international relations, this quote serves as a warning about addressing conflicts early.
More from Condoleezza Rice
All quotes βI think my father thought I might be president of the United States. I think he would've been satisfied with secretary of state. I'm a foreign policy person and to have a chance to serve my country as the nation's chief diplomat at a time of peril and consequence, that was enough.
Condoleezza RiceRead
What the United States has done is to be open to people who are fleeing tyranny, who are fleeing danger, but we have done it in a very careful way that has worked for us.
Condoleezza RiceRead
For the United States, supporting international development is more than just an expression of our compassion. It is a vital investment in the free, prosperous, and peaceful international order that fundamentally serves our national interest.
Condoleezza RiceRead
Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter.
Condoleezza RiceRead
Does anybody think these people were just sitting around drinking tea?
Condoleezza RiceRead
Similar quotes
The revolution will be no re-run brothers,_x000D_ The revolution will be live.
Gil Scott-HeronRead
Remember travel agents? Remember how they just kind of vanished one day? Well, that's where all the other jobs that once made us middle class are going, to that same magical, class-killing, job-sucking wormhole into which travel agency jobs vanished, never to return.
Douglas CouplandRead
Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your standards. When people ask me what really changed my life eight years ago, I tell them that absolutely the most important thin was changing what I demanded of myself. I wrote down all the things I would no longer accept in my life, all the things I would no longer tolerate, and all the things that I aspired to becoming.
Tony RobbinsRead
The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters
Antonio GramsciRead
We are strangely biased, as individuals and media institutions, to focus on big sudden changes, whether good or bad - amazing breakthroughs, such as a new gadget that gets released, or catastrophic failures, like a plane crash.
Steven JohnsonRead
Want to change the world? Upset the status quo? This takes more than run-of-the-mill relationships. You need to make people dream the same dream that you do.
Guy KawasakiRead