“It became necessary...” – from Vietnam to Afghanistan

INFAMOUS VIETNAM WAR QUOTE: “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.”        Comment by an unidentified U.S. Army Major during the Vietnam war        This oft-cited and satirized remark was reported by Associated Press journalist Peter Arnett in a story published in American newspapers on February 8, 1968. The Major was referring to destruction of the village of Ben Tre by American bombs, to prevent it from being taken by the Communist Viet Cong troops.

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN A MONTH LATER: “In splintered gardens that once grew green, on rubble where a graceful tower had stood, U.S. Marines advance under fire. Here was a paradox of war: the only way Hué could be won was by destroying it.”         From the caption of a photo showing the remains of the city of Hué during the Vietnam War        In Life magazine, March 8, 1968

HILLARY’S UPDATED FEEL GOOD VERSION: “Our military leaders...want to have a successful counterinsurgency operation that doesn’t destroy Kandahar in the effort to save Kandahar.”        U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton        In remarks about America’s “counterinsurgency” strategy in Afghanistan, during a joint appearance with Afghan president Hamid Karzai in Washington on May 14, 2010. To date, most of Kandahar’s buildings are still standing. (Of course, there have also been roughly 7,000 Afghan civilian casualties since 2006.)

ROGER CORMAN MOVIE VERSION: “Gas-s-s-s!...or It May Become Necessary to Destroy the World to Save It!”         The full title of a 1970 Grade B apocalyptic cult comedy movie directed by Roger Corman         (OK, maybe Grade Z, but it does have a rare movie appearance by Country Joe and the Fish.)

DR. DUBYA STRANGELOVE VERSION: “It Became Necessary to Destroy the Planet in Order to Save It!”        Khalil Bendib        Algerian-born American political cartoonist        Title of a 2003 book collecting some of Bendib’s scathing cartoons

A NON-IRONIC CIVIL WAR VARIATION: “In order to destroy the Rebellion it became necessary to destroy slavery.”        Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899)        American writer, orator and social and political activist        Comment about the Civil War in his Centennial Day speech at Peoria, Illinois on July 4, 1876

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Further reading: books of quotations and war and peace…

“Never underestimate the power of a woman.”

THE FAMOUS LADIES HOME JOURNAL SLOGAN: “Never underestimate the power of a woman.”        Editorial and advertising slogan adopted by the Ladies Home Journal in March 1941          The Ladies Home Journal was first published in 1883 and has been in print ever since. Although the slogan the editors started using in 1941 sounds empowering, the magazine has always been targeted more to ladylike housewives than to cutting-edge feminists. The “power” originally implied in the slogan was the power of wives to get their way and lead their husbands to the “right decisions.” The March 1941 issue, which featured a ballerina on the front cover, had an eye-catching ad for Chesterfield cigarettes inside, showing that tobacco companies and their pre-Mad Men era ad agencies were eager to at least give women an equal opportunity when it came to smoking.

V.I. WARSHAWSKI’S VARIATION: “Never underestimate a man’s ability to underestimate a woman.”        Kathleen Turner, as Chicago police detective V.I. Warshawski        In the 1991 movie V.I. Warshawski, based on the series of novels written by Sara Paretsky

AN OPTIMIST’S INSPIRING QUOTE: “Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.”        Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994)        Her most famous quotation        The great American athlete who overcame leg damage caused by childhood polio to become a medal-winning, record-setting Olympic track champion dubbed “the fastest woman in history.”

A PESSIMIST’S COUNTERQUOTE: “Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.”        Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)        American science fiction writer        In his time travel novel Time Enough for Love: the Lives of Lazarus Long (1973)

THE FRIENDS (WITH BENEFITS) UPDATE: “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”        Brad (actor Brendan Bradley) in the movie Friends (With Benefits) (2009)        One of his 100 rules about life

THE TRUE BELIEVERS AXIOM: “Never underestimate the power of the human mind to believe what it wants to believe, no matter the conflicting evidence.”        A quote attributed to the fictional character Caedmon Erb        In the sci-fi novel Dune: House Harkonnen (2001), by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson        (The photo is from The Creation Museum, where exhibits show how humans lived with dinosaurs in a world where evolution has supposedly never existed.)

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Comments? Corrections? Post them on the Famous Quotations Facebook group.

Further reading: books of quotes by and about women…