Thomas C. Schelling

nuclear weapon quickly difference

“Nuclear weapons can do it quickly. That makes a difference.”

― Thomas C. Schelling (1921-2016)

defenceless people nuclear weapon icepick bomb

“Against defenseless people there is not much that nuclear weapons can do that cannot be done with an ice pick. And it would not have strained our Gross National Product to do it with ice picks.”

― Thomas C. Schelling (1921-2016)

nuclear weapon bayonet speed centralization decision

“This is a difference between nuclear weapons and bayonets. It is not in the number of people they can eventually kill but in the speed with which it can be done, in the centralization of decision, in the divorce of the war from political processes, and in computerized programs that threaten to take the war out of human hands once it begins.”

― Thomas C. Schelling (1921-2016)

planning confuse unfamiliar improbable

"There is a tendency in our planning to confuse the unfamiliar with the improbable."

― Thomas C. Schelling (1921-2016)