All Herman Kahn Quotes
Deterrence itself is not a preeminent value; the primary values are safety and morality.
Herman Kahn
50% of people like this quote
My guess is that nuclear weapons will be used sometime in the next hundred years, but that their use is much more likely to be small and limited than widespread and unconstrained.
Herman Kahn
49% of people like this quote
Projecting a persuasive image of a desirable and practical future is extremely important to high morale, to dynamism, to consensus, and in general to help the wheels of society turn smoothly.
Herman Kahn
49% of people like this quote
In 1960 I published a book that attempted to direct attention to the possibility of a thermonuclear war, to ways of reducing the likelihood of such a war, and to methods for coping with the consequences should war occur despite our efforts to avoid it.
Herman Kahn
49% of people like this quote
In a world which is armed to its teeth with nuclear weapons, every quarrel or difference of opinion may lead to violence of a kind quite different from what is possible today.
Herman Kahn
49% of people like this quote
New developments in weapon systems during the 1950s and early 1960s created a situation that was most dangerous, and even conducive to accidental war.
Herman Kahn
49% of people like this quote
The widespread diffusion of nuclear weapons would make many nations able, and in some cases also create the pressure, to aggravate an on-going crisis, or even touch off a war between two other powers for purposes of their own.
Herman Kahn
49% of people like this quote
Anything that reduces war-related destruction should not be considered altogether immoral.
Herman Kahn
48% of people like this quote
Nuclear weapons are intrinsically neither moral nor immoral, though they are more prone to immoral use than most weapons.
Herman Kahn
47% of people like this quote
Hopefully, nations will refuse to accept a situation in which nuclear accidents actually do occur, and, if at all possible, they will do something to correct a system which makes them likely.
Herman Kahn
47% of people like this quote
Failures of perspective in decision-making can be due to aspects of the social utility paradox, but more often result from simple mistakes caused by inadequate thought.
Herman Kahn
47% of people like this quote
Because of new technologies, new wealth, new conditions of domestic life and of international relations, unprecedented criteria and issues are coming up for national decision.
Herman Kahn
45% of people like this quote
A healthy and fully functioning society must allocate its resources among a variety of competing interests, all of which are more or less valid but none of which should take precedence over national security.
Herman Kahn
45% of people like this quote
Only those who are ideologically opposed to military programs think of the defense budget as the first and best place to get resources for social welfare needs.
Herman Kahn
42% of people like this quote
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