Inevitable Quotes
More Inevitable Quotes
The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta, made war inevitable.
Thucydides— History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I, 1.23
Every humane and patriotic heart must grieve to see a bloody and causeless rebellion, costing thousands of human lives and millions of treasure. But as it was predetermined and inevitable, it was long enough delayed. Now is the appropriate time to solve the greatest problem ever submitted to civilized man.
thaddeus stevens— "Subduing the Rebellion" (22 January 1862), as quoted in The Selected Works of Thaddeus Stevens.
It seems like a cliche, but you do grow up a lot faster when you travel a lot, go through things like this interview, spend time away from home and hang around with other actors. It's inevitable that you're not going to have a so-called normal childhood.
matt dillon— Michael Blowen (November 3, 1983), "Matt Dillon Meets Fame ....Diffidently", The Boston Globe.
I was the last to consent to the separation, but the separation having been made, and having become inevitable, I have always said that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power.
George III— 1785 Letter to John Adams, first US Ambassador to England, 1 Jun.
Much of my life seems in retrospect to have been spent in the company of putative national leaders passing through the process of being denounced and imprisoned for sedition, as part of the inevitable progression towards the Prime Ministership and the ritual tea-party at Windsor Castle.
james cameron— Point of Departure (London: Arthur Barker, 1967) p. 295.
Why does the guerrilla fighter fight? We must come to the inevitable conclusion that the guerrilla fighter is a social reformer, that he takes up arms responding to the angry protest of the people against their oppressors, and that he fights in order to change the social system that keeps all his unarmed brothers in ignominy and misery.
ernesto 'che' guevara— Ch. 1 : General Principles of Guerrilla Warfare
Once we see, however, that the probability of life originating at random is so utterly miniscule as to make it absurd, it becomes sensible to think that the favorable properties of physics on which life depends are in every respect deliberate ... . It is therefore almost inevitable that our own measure of intelligence must reflect ... higher intelligences ... even to the limit of God ... such a theory is so obvious that one wonders why it is not widely accepted as being self-evident. The reasons are psychological rather than scientific.
fred hoyle— Fred Hoyle and N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Evolution from Space (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1981), pp. 141, 144, 130
I have a suspicion it's inevitable, but give me my stick. I'll face it.
— 1942 On being asked what he thought about death, following a serious throat operation, quoted in John Stevens's introduction to My Remarkable Uncle (1965 edn).
In a progressive country change is constant; change is inevitable.
benjamin disraeli— Benjamin Disraeli, Speech on Reform Bill of 1867, Edinburgh, Scotland (1867-10-29); reported in Selected Speeches of the Late Right Honourable the Earl of Beaconsfield, ed. T. E. Kebbel (1882), vol. 2, part 4, p. 487.
"What is the secret of your serenity ? Said the Master "Wholehearted cooperation with the inevitable ."
anthony de mello— p. 22 (One Minute Nonsense (1992))
Our tragic age demands poetry of courage and not whimpers about the inevitable end of all maya. People still extract pain of each other even after Buddha , Nanak and Gandhi have been preaching peace .
— Mulk Raj Anand, in Mulk Raj Anand: A Reader : Selections from His Fictional and Non-fictional ...(1 January 2005), p.xxi
The demand for a statement of a candidate’s religious belief can have no meaning except that there may be discrimination for or against him because of that belief. Discrimination against the holder of one faith means retaliatory discrimination against men of other faiths. The inevitable result of entering upon such a practice would be an abandonment of our real freedom of conscience and a reversion to the dreadful conditions of religious dissension which in so many lands have proved fatal to true liberty, to true religion, and to all advance in civilization.
— Theodore Roosevelt's Letter to Mr. J.C. Martin concerning religion and politics (November 6, 1908)
Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys and destiny obscure; Nor Grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile, The short and simple annals of the poor. The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Awaits alike th' inevitable hour, The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
thomas gray— Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, lines 29-36 (1751)
How can anyone be interested in war? — that glorious pursuit of annihilation with its ceremonious bellowings and trumpetings over the mangling of human bones and muscles and organs and eyes, its inconceivable agonies which could have been prevented by a few well-chosen, reasonable words. How, why, did this unnecessary business begin? Why does anyone want to read about it — this redundant human madness which men accept as inevitable?
margaret caroline anderson— The Strange Necessity (1969), part 1
By this act, all ties with the dreadful past are broken, and my government will be proud to be able to march with you on to the inevitable victory.
pietro badoglio— In a letter to General Eisenhower. Quoted in "World War II" - by Michael Armitage, Lord Lewin, Terry Charman - History - 2004 - Page 19
If humans pursue a business-as-usual course for the first half of this century, I believe the collapse of civilization due to climate change becomes inevitable.
tim flannery— Chapter 22 (p. 209)
If evil is inevitable, how are the wicked accountable? Nay, why do we call men wicked at all? Evil is inevitable, but is also remediable.
horace mann— p. 215 (Thoughts Selected from the Writings of Horace Mann (1872))
The refusal of the British and Russian peoples to accept what appeared to be inevitable defeat was the great factor in the salvage of our civilization.
george marshall— Biennial Report of the Chief of Staff, US Army (1 September 1945)
It is change , continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be ... This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our everyman must take on a science fictional way of thinking.
Isaac Asimov— "My Own View" in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1978) edited by Robert Holdstock; later published in Asimov on Science Fiction (1981)
Optimism is the parent of despair, while pessimism allows the mind to accustom itself to the inevitable disappointments of human existence by degrees, just as some drugs induce a state of tolerance. Pessimists, moreover, have the better sense of humour, for they have a livelier apprehension of pretension and absurdity. In a meritocracy, furthermore, those who fail must either indulge in elaborate mental contortions to disguise reality from themselves or sink into a deep melancholy.
anthony daniels— British Medical Journal Views and Reviews: Desperate house calls (BMJ 2009;338:b212)
The mode by which the inevitable is reached is effort.
felix frankfurter— Quoted by Garson Kanin in Atlantic (March 1964).
There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat.
james russell lowell— Democracy and Addresses.
Hamas hides among unwitting civilians, who have no way of controlling its activities. This fact does not give Israel the right to kill innocent non-combatants, not even unintentionally. Besides, murder is not 'unintentional' when you know it is inevitable.
ilana mercer— “Standing Armies Commandeered by Cowards,” WorldNetDaily.com, November 23, 2012.
When the Jew says "mankind" he is talking about himself. It is written in the Talmud, that only Jews were human beings, gentiles on the other hand were animals created to serve the chosen people. If looking back and comparing the corresponding articles in the "democratic" and "neutral" countries, one is astonished at the systematic nature of the propaganda whose final goal was the creation of a state of affairs in which a war was inevitable.
julius streicher— Mit der "Menschheit" meint nämlich der Jude sich selbst, die Gesamtheit der Juden. Steht doch im Talmud geschrieben, dass nur die Juden Menschen seien, die Nichtjuden dagegen Tiere, die dazu erschaffen wurden, damit sie dem auserwählten Volk der Juden besser dienen könnten.
Vergleicht man zurückschauend die darauf bezüglichen Artikel in den "demokratischen" und "neutralen" Ländern, dann staunt man über die Planmäßigkeit jener Propaganda, deren Endziel die Schaffung eines Zustandes war, der zwangsläufig zum Krieg führen musste.Stürmer, September 5, 1940
Mistakes are the inevitable lot of mankind.
— Sir George Jessel, In re Taylor's Estate (1882) 22 Ch.D. 495, 503.
Rape is like bad weather: if it's inevitable, you might as well relax and enjoy it.
— Clayton Williams, Texas gubernatorial candidate, March 24, 1990.
I believe, like you, that civilization is a natural and inevitable consequence, whether good or evil I am not prepared to state.
— Robert E. Howard in a letter to H. P. Lovecraft (c. August 1930)
You were right, Smith. You were always right. It was inevitable.
— Who: Neo
— Notes: Character fights Smith one last time, but realizes that he cannot defeat him. He says this just before allowing Smith to transform him into another Smith, presumably killing him (although some suggest that he is still alive). Smith often makes references to inevitability, usually with regards to Neo's death.
