Controversial Sayings

206 sayings found from the Modern era

All our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really.

— James Watson 2007
Controversial

It is not so much what one does, as what one is, that matters.

— Francis Crick 1988
Controversial

The atomic bomb is a weapon which is new in many respects. It is a weapon of terror, a weapon for exterminating whole populations.

— Robert Oppenheimer 1945
Controversial

Before the war, I was doing pure physics. Now I am doing applied physics. But it is still physics.

— Enrico Fermi 1940s
Controversial

Negroes have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but not a right to social and political equality with whites.

— Abraham Lincoln 1858-1860 (approximate)
Controversial

I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes; it would spread a lively terror.

— Winston Churchill 1919
Controversial

The Jewish spirit is immortal. The Jew is immortal. The Jew is the eternal spirit of negation.

— Adolf Hitler 1922
Controversial

The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.

— Joseph Stalin 1947 (attributed)
Controversial

In order to attack the forces of the counter-revolution, it is necessary to carry out a reign of terror.

— Mao Zedong Undated, likely 1920s-1930s
Controversial

I am a Democrat, but I am not a partisan. I am an American.

— Franklin D. Roosevelt Undated
Controversial

I am a 'Bania'. I am a 'Vaishya'. I am a 'Shudra'. I am an 'Untouchable'.

— Mahatma Gandhi 1921
Controversial

We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist.

— Queen Victoria 1896
Controversial

A conquering army on the border is an admirable school of instruction for the people.

— Otto von Bismarck Late 19th century
Controversial

Seek knowledge throughout the world, and thus strengthen the foundations of imperial rule.

— Meiji Emperor 1868
Controversial

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

— Vladimir Lenin 1917-1922
Controversial

The end result of the revolution can only be the dictatorship of the proletariat.

— Leon Trotsky 1906
Controversial

The United States has no right to tell us what to do. We are a sovereign nation.

— Fidel Castro 1960
Controversial

We must be hard, because the masses need to be hard.

— Che Guevara 1963
Controversial

Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.

— John F. Kennedy 1960s
Controversial

The American people are not going to be stampeded by a bunch of wild-eyed, radical college students.

— Richard Nixon 1970
Controversial