“Ideas without action are worthless.”
“When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.”
(Before World War I began):
“We are facing a grave crisis in our national life. The few who profit from the labor of the masses want to organize the workers into an army which will protect the interests of the capitalists . . . We are not preparing to defend our country—we have no enemies foolhardy enough to attempt to invade the United States . . . [People] are taught that brave men die for their country’s honor. What a price to pay for an abstraction—the lives of millions of young men; other millions crippled and blinded for life; existence made hideous for still more millions of human beings; the achievement and inheritance of generations swept away in a moment—and nobody better off for all the misery! . . . Strike against war, for without you no battles can be fought . . . Be not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of destruction. Be heroes in an army of construction.”
