Destruction

If the world does not change course, we risk self-destruction. ~ Mohamed ElBaradei

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy? ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Destruction, or to destroy, refers to acts or states of damage, injury, or the complete eradication or obliteration of objects, systems, beings or ideas.

Quotes

You cannot seek Destruction and return unscathed. ~ Neil Gaiman in The San∂man

• Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep away and not forgive the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from Thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do justly? … Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, who am but dust and ashes. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous; wilt Thou destroy all the city for lack of five? … Oh, let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. Peradventure ten shall be found there?
  • Abraham to the LORD regarding the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, in Genesis 18:22 - 32 (KJV), after which, it is recorded that the LORD responds: I will not destroy it for ten's sake.

• Zorg: Life, which you so nobly serve, comes from destruction. Look at this empty glass. (Zorg pushes the glass with his finger.)
  Here it is... peaceful... serene...but if it is... (Zorg pushes the glass off the table. It shatters on the floor.)
  Destroyed... (Small individual robots, both free-wheeling and integrated, come zipping out to clean up the mess.)
  Look at all these little things...so busy all of a sudden. Notice how each one is useful. What a lovely ballet, so full of form and color. So full of..life!

Cornelius: They are robots! (A servant comes in pours water in another glass. Zorg tosses a cherry into it.)

Zorg: Yes but... by that simple gesture of destruction. I gave work to at least fifty people today. The engineers, the technicians, the mechanics. Fifty people who will be able to feed their children so they can grow up big and strong. Children who will have children of their own, adding to the great cycle of life!
Father, by creating a little destruction, I am, in fact, encouraging life! So, in reality, you and I are in the same business!

Cornelius: Destroying a glass is one thing..killing people with the weapons you produce is quite another.

Zorg: Let me reassure you Father..I will never kill more people in my entire life than religion has killed in the last 2000 years.

• Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, The Fifth Element, (1997)

• We must fight those who are committed to destruction, without replicating their destructiveness. Understanding how to fight in this way is the task and the bind of a nonviolent ethics and politics.
  • Judith Butler, The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind. Verso Books. 4 February 2020. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-78873-276-5. 

• To subdue destruction is one of the most important affirmations of which we are capable in this world. It is the affirmation of this life, bound up with yours, and with the realm of the living: an affirmation caught up with a potential for destruction and its countervailing force.
  • Judith Butler, The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind. Verso Books. 4 February 2020. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-78873-276-5. 

• You must understand that it is little rest a vampire gets on earth, with so many fine young fellows like yourself going about everywhere eager to be destroyed.
  • James Branch Cabell, in Jurgen (1919), Ch. 37 : Invention of the Lovely Vampire

• Countries remain interested in the illicit acquisition of weapons of mass destruction.
  If we sit idly by, this trend will continue. Countries that perceive themselves to be vulnerable can be expected to try to redress that vulnerability — and in some cases they will pursue clandestine weapons programs. The supply network will grow, making it easier to acquire nuclear weapon expertise and materials. Eventually, inevitably, terrorists will gain access to such materials and technology, if not actual weapons.
  If the world does not change course, we risk self-destruction.
  • Mohamed ElBaradei, in "Saving Ourselves From Self-Destruction" in The New York Times (12 February 2004)

• English is a language of mass destruction. Lady Macbeth is a queen of mass destruction. Lear is a king of mass destruction. Hamlet is a prince of mass destruction. Shakespeare is a bard of mass destruction. And Moby Dick is a whale of mass destruction. Why are you a culture of death and destruction? Why do you obliterate villages, cities, and civilizations with your language of mass destruction? Is the destruction worth the destruction? For what purpose did you destroy my language? To impose the sovereignty of your rule of law with weapons of mass destruction — to then say: — I offer you my lifesaver. Now, we can communicate in the same language. English only, please.
  • Giannina Braschi, in United States of Banana (2011)

• it seems reasonable to believe — and I do believe — that the more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us the less taste we shall have for the destruction of our race. Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions, and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction.
  • Rachel Carson Speech accepting the John Burroughs Medal (April 1952); also in Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson (1999) edited by Linda Lear, p. 94

• Perhaps if we reversed the telescope and looked at man down these long vistas, we should find less time and inclination to plan for our own destruction.
  • Rachel Carson Acceptance speech of the National Book Award for Nonfiction (1952); also in Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson (1999) edited by Linda Lear, p. 91

• Men will seem to see new destructions in the sky. The flames that fall from it will seem to rise in it and to fly from it with terror. They will hear every kind of animals speak in human language. They will instantaneously run in person in various parts of the world, without motion. They will see the greatest splendour in the midst of darkness. O! marvel of the human race! What madness has led you thus! You will speak with animals of every species and they with you in human speech. You will see yourself fall from great heights without any harm and torrents will accompany you, and will mingle with their rapid course.
  • Leonardo da Vinci, The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1938), XX Humorous Writings, as translated by Edward MacCurdy.

• Destruction did not cease with my abandonment of my realm, no more than people would cease to dream should you abandon yours. Perhaps it's more uncontrolled, wilder. Perhaps not. But it's no longer anyone's responsibility.
  • Neil Gaiman, in lines for Destruction, in Sandman #48, later in the collection Brief Lives

• You cannot seek Destruction and return unscathed.
  • Neil Gaiman, in lines for Desire, in Sandman #49; later in the collection "Brief Lives"

• What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?
  • Mahatma Gandhi, Non-Violence in Peace and War, 1942, Vol. 1, Ch. 142

• The work of destruction, speaking generally, goes on not in the light of day, but, metaphorically, in the dark hours of night.
  • J. E. Casely Hayford, Ethiopia Unbound: Studies in Race Emancipation. C.M. Phillips. 1911. p. 69. 

• It is not nuclear violence alone that is the threat to mankind. It is the willingness to kill our fellow human beings – the innocent as well as the noninnocent- for political ends. Unless we are willing to redirect our time, energy, and resources away from perfecting the means of mass destruction of whatever sort and into exploring nonviolent alternatives to war itself, our efforts to combat the threat of nuclear war are likely to be of no avail.
  • Robert L. Holmes, On War and Morality. Princeton University Press. 1989. p. 10. ISBN 0-691-07794-0. 

• In a time of destruction, create something: a poem, a parade, a community, a school, a vow, a moral principle; one peaceful moment.
  • Maxine Hong Kingston The Fifth Book of Peace (2003)

• Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority
  • Stanley Milgrim The Perils of Obedience

• The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. The God's name is Abraxas.
  • Hermann Hesse, in Demian (1919), p. 166
  • Variant translation: The bird is struggling out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wants to be born must first destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The name of the God is called Abraxas.
    • As translated by W. J. Strachan

• Sikander burnt all books the same wise as fire burns hay. All the scintillating works faced destruction in the same manner that lotus flowers face with the onset of frosty winter.
  • About Sikandar Butshikan. Srivara, Zaina Rajtarangini.

• All powers have two sides, the power to create and the power to destroy. We must recognize them both, but invest our gifts on the side of creation.
  • Robin Wall Kimmerer Braiding Sweetgrass (2013)

• Do not flinch from experiences that might destroy your beliefs. The thought you cannot think controls you more than thoughts you speak aloud.Submit yourself to ordeals and test yourself in fire. Relinquish the emotion which rests upon a mistaken belief, and seek to feel fully that emotion which fits the facts. If the iron approaches your face, and you believe it is hot, and it is cool, the Way opposes your fear. If the iron approaches your face, and you believe it is cool, and it is hot, the Way opposes your calm. Evaluate your beliefs first and then arrive at your emotions. Let yourself say: “If the iron is hot, I desire to believe it is hot, and if it is cool, I desire to believe it is cool.”
  • Eliezer Yudkowsky, in Twelve Virtues Of Rationality

• Ganesha the god-maker regarded the jungle about him. Though he walked through the realm of the phantom cats, he feared no evil. For the Lord of Chaos walked by his side, and the Trident of Destruction comforted him.
  • Roger Zelazny, in Lord of Light (1967), Ch. 5