---
title: "1 1983 Quotes By Jonathan Schell"
description: "1 1983 quotes by Jonathan Schell. Plus more from Jonathan Schell and more 1983 sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2b/jonathan-schell-29900_1983_it-was-not-unless-one-lifted-one-s-gaze_1425299.jpg"
---

> [“It was not unless one lifted one's gaze from all the allegedly normal events occurring before one's eyes and looked at the executioner's sword hanging over everyone's head that the normality was revealed as a sort of mass insanity. .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/it-was-not-unless-one-lifted-one-s-gaze-from-all-the-allegedly-normal/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2b/jonathan-schell-29900_1983_it-was-not-unless-one-lifted-one-s-gaze_1425299.jpg)

## More by Jonathan Schell

> [The spread of democracy is a wonderful thing-it is a necessary foundation for peace-and it can happen. But it cannot be advanced by force,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/the-spread-of-democracy-is-a-wonderful-thing-it-is-a-necessary/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [It is a key fact about American policy in Vietnam that the withdrawel of American troops was built into it from the start. None…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/it-is-a-key-fact-about-american-policy-in-vietnam-that-the-withdrawel/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [“Deterence is only a stay of execution, not a reprieve.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/deterence-is-only-a-stay-of-execution-not-a-reprieve/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [The use of a mere dozen nuclear weapons ... would be a human catastrophe without parallel. ... Because so few weapons can kill so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/the-use-of-a-mere-dozen-nuclear-weapons-would-be-a-human-catastrophe/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [ \[A\] new generation, innocent of the divisions of the Cold War, this coming-of-age. ... If its members do not feel the urgency to escape… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/a-new-generation-innocent-of-the-divisions-of-the-cold-war-this/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [The machinery of destruction is complete, poised on a hair trigger, waiting for the 'button' to be 'pushed' by some misguided or deranged human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/the-machinery-of-destruction-is-complete-poised-on-a-hair-trigger/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [Every person is the right person to act. Every moment is the right moment to begin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/every-person-is-the-right-person-to-act-every-moment-is-the-right/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [Lovers of freedom, lovers of social justice, disarmers, peacekeepers, civil disobeyers, democrats, civil-rights activists, and defenders of the environment are legions in a single…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/lovers-of-freedom-lovers-of-social-justice-disarmers-peacekeepers/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [The world is not to be approached, blueprint in hand, as if it were so much raw material waiting to be fashioned to someone's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/the-world-is-not-to-be-approached-blueprint-in-hand-as-if-it-were-so/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [“It was not unless one lifted one's gaze from all the allegedly normal events occurring before one's eyes and looked at the executioner's sword…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/it-was-not-unless-one-lifted-one-s-gaze-from-all-the-allegedly-normal/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [Reason must sit at the knee of instinct and learn reverence for the miraculous instinctual capacity for creation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/reason-must-sit-at-the-knee-of-instinct-and-learn-reverence-for-the/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [Since after extinction no one will be present to take responsibility, we have to take full responsibility now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/since-after-extinction-no-one-will-be-present-to-take-responsibility/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [No single person can possess the wisdom to chart our course.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/no-single-person-can-possess-the-wisdom-to-chart-our-course/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [It has been said that the United States was deceived into entering and expanding the Vietnam War by its own overoptimistic propaganda. The record…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/it-has-been-said-that-the-united-states-was-deceived-into-entering/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

> [“It appears that no one is so unfortunate that he or she is exempt from spending cuts, while at the same time no one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-schell/it-appears-that-no-one-is-so-unfortunate-that-he-or-she-is-exempt/)

[Jonathan Schell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-schell/)

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