--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: By the time Congress is even authorized…" description: "\"By the time Congress is even authorized to act after the President has launched nuclear weapons, there may no longer be a civilized world in which to d..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b07/ted-lieu-4499_civilized_by-the-time-congress-is-even-authorized_209232.jpg" --- # By the time Congress is even authorized to act after the… ![“By the time Congress is even authorized to act after the President has launched nuclear weapons, there may no longer be a civilized world in which to do so.” quote by Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b07/ted-lieu-4499_civilized_by-the-time-congress-is-even-authorized_209232.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b07/ted-lieu-4499_civilized_by-the-time-congress-is-even-authorized_209232.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b07/ted-lieu-4499_civilized_by-the-time-congress-is-even-authorized_209232.jpg) > “By the time Congress is even authorized to act after the President has launched nuclear weapons, there may no longer be a civilized world in which to do so.” [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. If nuclear weapons are used, the world may be too damaged for normal governance to continue. **In simple terms:** Nuclear war could end civilization. Key Takeaway Prevent escalation, seek diplomacy. Themes politics war ethics Mood urgent cautious Type warning political When to use this quote - policy planning - international relations - emergency response - public education Key Concepts deterrence civilizational risk Questions to Reflect On - What safeguards can prevent such a scenario? - How can societies prepare for post‑conflict governance? A Different Perspective Complex geopolitical realities may limit immediate action. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Congress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/congress/) [Nuclear weapons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nuclear-weapons/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [In 2003, Congress authorized the construction of a visitor center for the Vietnam Memorial to help provide information and educate the public about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-cardoza/in-2003-congress-authorized-the-construction-of-a-visitor-center-for/) [Dennis Cardoza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-cardoza/) > [By this act the president alone is empowered to make the law, to fix in his mind what acts, words, what thoughts or looks,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-livingston/by-this-act-the-president-alone-is-empowered-to-make-the-law-to-fix/) Edward Livingston > [The main trouble with this civilized world isn't that we adventure too much, but that we fail to adventure enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornelia-parker/the-main-trouble-with-this-civilized-world-isn-t-that-we-adventure/) [Cornelia Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornelia-parker/) > [There has never in the history of the civilized world been a cohort of kids that is so little affected by adult guidance and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-damon/there-has-never-in-the-history-of-the-civilized-world-been-a-cohort/) William Damon > [Hard to believe that so nearby, just across the Channel, such atrocities could still occur in their supposedly civilized world, that one could wake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-willig/hard-to-believe-that-so-nearby-just-across-the-channel-such/) [Lauren Willig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-willig/) > [No nation, no society, no community can hold its head high and claim to be part of the civilized world if it condones the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manmohan-singh/no-nation-no-society-no-community-can-hold-its-head-high-and-claim-to/) [Manmohan Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manmohan-singh/) > [Coffee - the favorite drink of the civilized world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/coffee-the-favorite-drink-of-the-civilized-world/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [There is something about men more capable of shaking despotic power than lightening, whirlwind, or earthquake, that is, the threatened indignation of the whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-webster/there-is-something-about-men-more-capable-of-shaking-despotic-power/) [Daniel Webster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-webster/) > [The one thing I've learned, getting out to all those foreign and domestic locales, is that people in every country of the 'civilized' world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfman-jack/the-one-thing-i-ve-learned-getting-out-to-all-those-foreign-and/) [Wolfman Jack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfman-jack/) > [Wealth and speed are what the world admires, what each pursues. 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Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [“I woke thinking: Is it possible that, after all, I am to go on living with the wild beasts while in the greater world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-gloss/i-woke-thinking-is-it-possible-that-after-all-i-am-to-go-on-living/) Molly Gloss > [This great question of predestination and free will, of free moral agency and accountability, and being saved by the grace of God, and damned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/this-great-question-of-predestination-and-free-will-of-free-moral/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [“The world was in truth made of jackstraws. The world was very combustible, the human body was partible in ways heretofore unimagined. What held…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulette-jiles/the-world-was-in-truth-made-of-jackstraws-the-world-was-very/) [Paulette Jiles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulette-jiles/) > [“Oil. The great addiction of the civilized world”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-warren/oil-the-great-addiction-of-the-civilized-world/) [Andrew Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-warren/) ## More by Ted Lieu > [The United States represents hope, freedom and opportunities to those who are born here and to those who are not. Those values are part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/the-united-states-represents-hope-freedom-and-opportunities-to-those/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [In a nation as dynamic and diverse as the United States, what makes us great is that our founding principles are rooted in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/in-a-nation-as-dynamic-and-diverse-as-the-united-states-what-makes-us/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [You cannot have 300-some million Americans - and really, right, the global citizenry be at risk of having their phone conversations intercepted with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/you-cannot-have-300-some-million-americans-and-really-right-the/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [What you want in foreign policy is clear, well-defined goals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/what-you-want-in-foreign-policy-is-clear-well-defined-goals/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [Yes, I am not well-behaved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/yes-i-am-not-well-behaved/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [I am a supporter of Medicare for All.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/i-am-a-supporter-of-medicare-for-all/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [Donald Trump himself actually said during his campaign that he essentially thinks being unpredictable is a good thing. Maybe that's a good thing in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/donald-trump-himself-actually-said-during-his-campaign-that-he/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [Indeed, President Trump seems to have a pretty good idea how to enrich oneself at taxpayer expense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/indeed-president-trump-seems-to-have-a-pretty-good-idea-how-to-enrich/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [We are not and will never be an authoritarian regime.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/we-are-not-and-will-never-be-an-authoritarian-regime/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [It is important to show up. Showing up at marches and rallies and town halls and protests.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/it-is-important-to-show-up-showing-up-at-marches-and-rallies-and-town/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [The suspicion that immigrants are not to be trusted or are unpatriotic is not just wrong; it is un-American. And dangerous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/the-suspicion-that-immigrants-are-not-to-be-trusted-or-are/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [It is clear to me that creating a pathway for decryption only for good guys is technologically stupid. You just can't do that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/it-is-clear-to-me-that-creating-a-pathway-for-decryption-only-for/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [When tragedy strikes, feeling helpless is understandable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/when-tragedy-strikes-feeling-helpless-is-understandable/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [If we turn our back on the world's most vulnerable people, we're eschewing the values our country was founded on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/if-we-turn-our-back-on-the-world-s-most-vulnerable-people-we-re/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [Encryption would help prevent a lot of cyber attacks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/encryption-would-help-prevent-a-lot-of-cyber-attacks/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) [Explore all 110 Ted Lieu quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) ## More Civilized quotes > [ That country \[Carthage\] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws;… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinking-into-the-state-of-barbarism/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [Be neither too early in the fashion, nor too long out of it, nor too precisely in it; what custom hath civilized is become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-quarles/be-neither-too-early-in-the-fashion-nor-too-long-out-of-it-nor-too/) [Francis Quarles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-quarles/) > [Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/wine-is-one-of-the-most-civilized-things-in-the-world-and-one-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Civilized nations are ones that simply can't endure wrongs or injustice except at home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-anderson/civilized-nations-are-ones-that-simply-can-t-endure-wrongs-or/) Joseph Anderson > [Our guiding principle was that design is neither an intellectual nor a material affair, but simply an integral part of the stuff of life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-gropius/our-guiding-principle-was-that-design-is-neither-an-intellectual-nor/) [Walter Gropius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-gropius/) > [War is not civilized.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/talib-kweli/war-is-not-civilized/) [Talib Kweli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/talib-kweli/) > [For it is an absurdity to call a country civilized in which a decent and industrious man, laboriously mastering a trade which is valuble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-an-absurdity-to-call-a-country-civilized-in-which-a-decent/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [No people is wholly civilized where a distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a purse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roosevelt/no-people-is-wholly-civilized-where-a-distinction-is-drawn-between/) [Theodore Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roosevelt/) > [Mine was, as it were, the connecting link between wild and cultivated fields; as some states are civilized, and others half-civilized, and others savage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/mine-was-as-it-were-the-connecting-link-between-wild-and-cultivated/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [The military mind is indeed a menace. 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When the Earth joins together and uses the Earth intelligently, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacque-fresco/as-long-as-there-are-prisons-police-armies-navies-we-are-not/) [Jacque Fresco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacque-fresco/) > [We're all intrigued, in our civilized world that we live in, and curious about how we would get on, on an undiscovered island that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hiddleston/we-re-all-intrigued-in-our-civilized-world-that-we-live-in-and/) [Tom Hiddleston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hiddleston/) > [When passions and appetites are stronger than the intellect, men are savages; when the intellect governs the passions, when the passions are servants, men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/when-passions-and-appetites-are-stronger-than-the-intellect-men-are/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [The malady of civilized man is his knowledge of death. 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