--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We have to risk a nuclear war in order to…" description: "\"We have to risk a nuclear war in order to escape capitulation to Communism. For all I know, we may stumble into this terrible war.\" — Reinhold Niebuhr" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c7/reinhold-niebuhr-1881_capitulation_we-have-to-risk-a-nuclear-war-in-order-t_2998564.png" --- # We have to risk a nuclear war in order to escape… ![“We have to risk a nuclear war in order to escape capitulation to Communism. For all I know, we may stumble into this terrible war.” quote by Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c7/reinhold-niebuhr-1881_capitulation_we-have-to-risk-a-nuclear-war-in-order-t_2998564.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c7/reinhold-niebuhr-1881_capitulation_we-have-to-risk-a-nuclear-war-in-order-t_2998564.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c7/reinhold-niebuhr-1881_capitulation_we-have-to-risk-a-nuclear-war-in-order-t_2998564.png) > “We have to risk a nuclear war in order to escape capitulation to Communism. For all I know, we may stumble into this terrible war.” [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Advocates confronting communism even at the risk of nuclear conflict, acknowledging possible catastrophic outcomes. **In simple terms:** Argues for confronting threats despite potential war. Key Takeaway Weigh moral imperatives against existential risks. Themes war communism nuclear risk Mood serious cautious Type political philosophical When to use this quote - foreign policy - defense strategy - ethical decision‑making Key Concepts realpolitik ethical dilemma deterrence Questions to Reflect On - Is nuclear deterrence a viable solution? - What alternatives exist to avoid war? A Different Perspective War may cause irreversible damage. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Capitulation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capitulation/) [Communism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communism/) [Nuclear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nuclear/) [Nuclear war](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nuclear-war/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) [Risk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/risk/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) ## Related quotes > [As difficult as it is to eliminate the risk of nuclear warfare, it requires fewer changes to the global economy than does averting or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graciela-chichilnisky/as-difficult-as-it-is-to-eliminate-the-risk-of-nuclear-warfare-it/) [Graciela Chichilnisky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graciela-chichilnisky/) > [Today, we take the risk of nuclear war quite seriously, climate change not so much and epidemics least of all. But no single country,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-gates/today-we-take-the-risk-of-nuclear-war-quite-seriously-climate-change/) [Bill Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-gates/) > [ One of the dangers \[that Donald Trump poses, due to the augmented risk of nuclear war\] is unquestionable. 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Before there were men or green fields or the untamed sea. Before there was anything at all,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-yancey/in-the-beginning-there-was-a-war-before-there-were-men-or-green/) [Rick Yancey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-yancey/) > [“Mr Lincoln suggested that the Lord sent us this terrible war as punishment for the offense of slavery and that the war may be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-chiaverini/mr-lincoln-suggested-that-the-lord-sent-us-this-terrible-war-as/) [Jennifer Chiaverini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-chiaverini/) > [We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise. We shall yet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/we-hoped-for-a-happy-termination-of-this-terrible-war-long-before/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [The whole of organic nature on our planet exists only by a relentless war of all against all. ... The raging war of interests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/the-whole-of-organic-nature-on-our-planet-exists-only-by-a-relentless/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) ## More by Reinhold Niebuhr > [There are evidently limits to the achievements of science; and there are irresolvable contradictions both between prosperity and virtue, and between happiness and ''the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/there-are-evidently-limits-to-the-achievements-of-science-and-there/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [Perhapsthemost sublimeinsights oftheJewishprophets and the Christian gospel is the knowledge that since perfection is love, the apprehension of perfection is at once the means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/perhapsthemost-sublimeinsights-ofthejewishprophets-and-the-christian/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [The essence of man is his freedom. Sin is committed in that freedom. Sin can therefore not be attributed to a defect in his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/the-essence-of-man-is-his-freedom-sin-is-committed-in-that-freedom/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [Liberalism makes this mistake in regard to private property and Marxism makes it in regard to socialized property... 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It's necessary for the individual, because the individual, no matter how good the society is, every individual has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/freedom-is-necessary-for-two-reasons-it-s-necessary-for-the/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [The pretensions of final truth are always partlyan effort to obscure a darkly felt consciousness of the limits of human knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/the-pretensions-of-final-truth-are-always-partlyan-effort-to-obscure/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [All social cooperation on a larger scale than the most intimate social group requires a measure of coercion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/all-social-cooperation-on-a-larger-scale-than-the-most-intimate/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [Man is always worse than most people suspect, but also generally better than most people dream.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/man-is-always-worse-than-most-people-suspect-but-also-generally/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [When a church reaches up beyond its group and tries to enforce its standards upon a society that doesn't accept these standards, and perhaps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/when-a-church-reaches-up-beyond-its-group-and-tries-to-enforce-its/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [...(I)ndividual selfhood is expressed in the self's capacity for self-transcendence and not in its rational capacity for conceptual and analytic procedures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/i-ndividual-selfhood-is-expressed-in-the-self-s-capacity-for-self/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [The whole art of politics consists in directing rationally the irrationalities of men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/the-whole-art-of-politics-consists-in-directing-rationally-the/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [Religion is so frequently a source of confusion in political life, and so frequently dangerous to democracy, precisely because it introduces absolutes into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/religion-is-so-frequently-a-source-of-confusion-in-political-life-and/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) [Explore all 200 Reinhold Niebuhr quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) ## More Capitulation quotes > [There is a thin line between peace of the brave and peace of the hostage... between compromise - even calculated risk - and irresponsibility…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ehud-barak/there-is-a-thin-line-between-peace-of-the-brave-and-peace-of-the/) [Ehud Barak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ehud-barak/) > [Submission does not mean being weak or passive. It leads to neither fatalism nor capitulation. Just the opposite. True power resides in submission. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elif-safak/submission-does-not-mean-being-weak-or-passive-it-leads-to-neither/) [Elif Safak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elif-safak/) > [“I let go of control and fear and something else swept in to take their place. Surrender. Capitulation. Peace.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annabel-joseph/i-let-go-of-control-and-fear-and-something-else-swept-in-to-take/) [Annabel Joseph](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annabel-joseph/) > [“The Marquis believed himself to be hardened against flattery. He thought that he had experienced every variety, but he discovered that he was mistaken:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georgette-heyer/the-marquis-believed-himself-to-be-hardened-against-flattery-he/) [Georgette Heyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georgette-heyer/) > [ I'm disappointed, depressed, and demoralized. \[...\] It is very hard to avoid the conclusion that President Bush flinched from a fight on constitutional philosophy.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-kristol/i-m-disappointed-depressed-and-demoralized-it-is-very-hard-to-avoid/) [William Kristol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-kristol/) > [I myself and my wife - in order to escape the disgrace of deposition or capitulation - choose death. It is our wish to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/i-myself-and-my-wife-in-order-to-escape-the-disgrace-of-deposition-or/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [“Nonetheless even in capitulation there is still hope, and this hope of human beings never ends, will never end.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ingeborg-bachmann/nonetheless-even-in-capitulation-there-is-still-hope-and-this-hope-of/) [Ingeborg Bachmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ingeborg-bachmann/) > [Today we ought to be able to see first that Booker T. Washington faced a situation in which he was seeking desperately for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-l-r-james/today-we-ought-to-be-able-to-see-first-that-booker-t-washington-faced/) [C. L. R. James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-l-r-james/) > [The real problem is the total capitulation of German social democracy to capitalism, reflected and symbolized by actual extreme center coalition governments in Germany,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tariq-ali/the-real-problem-is-the-total-capitulation-of-german-social-democracy/) [Tariq Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tariq-ali/) > [To be honest...here is a task for all that a man has of fortitude.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/to-be-honest-here-is-a-task-for-all-that-a-man-has-of-fortitude/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [Getting drunk . . . you're in complete control up to a point. It's your choice, every time you take a sip. You have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-morrison/getting-drunk-you-re-in-complete-control-up-to-a-point-it-s-your/) [Jim Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-morrison/) > [My sudden, unforeseen capitulation had knocked me backward, and I had nothing to hold on to. My internal weather was eerily calm, as if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-christensen/my-sudden-unforeseen-capitulation-had-knocked-me-backward-and-i-had/) [Kate Christensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-christensen/) > [“The more virtuous the lady, the more headlong her capitulation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juliana-gray/the-more-virtuous-the-lady-the-more-headlong-her-capitulation/) [Juliana Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juliana-gray/) > [To be honest, to be kind-to earn a little and to spend a little less, to make upon the whole a family happier for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/to-be-honest-to-be-kind-to-earn-a-little-and-to-spend-a-little-less-2/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/negotiations-are-a-euphemism-for-capitulation-if-the-shadow-of-power/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 39 Capitulation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capitulation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We have to risk a nuclear war in order to escape capitulation to Communism. 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