10 Quotes & Sayings By John Hersey

John Hersey is an American writer and journalist, best known for his novel Hiroshima. He was the first non-Japanese to be awarded a fellowship at the Society of Writers to be established in Japan. Hersey was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attended the University of Illinois and Columbia University. He was a reporter for the Baltimore Sun at the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor Read more

He was also one of two reporters who interviewed General Curtis LeMay after he bombed Tokyo in 1945. Hersey's short stories were published frequently by such magazines as The New Yorker and Harper's Magazine, and he wrote several articles for Collier's Weekly, including "Hiroshima: The Aftermath," which later became a book titled Hiroshima.

1
The crux of the matter is whether total war in its present form is justifiable, even when it serves a just purpose. Does it not have material and spiritual evil as its consequences which far exceed whatever good might result? When will our moralists give us an answer to this question? John Hersey
It seems logical that he who supports total war in...
2
It seems logical that he who supports total war in principle cannot complain of a war against civilians. John Hersey
3
The price one pays for having a kind man at one’s elbow. John Hersey
4
Do not work primarily for money; do your duty to patients first and let the money follow; our life is short, we don't live twice; the whirlwind will pick up the leaves and spin them, but then it will drop them and they will form a pile. John Hersey
5
It's a failure of national vision when you regard children as weapons, and talents as materials you can mine, assay, and fabricate for profit and defense. John Hersey
6
Dr. Wyman preached a God I couldn’t quite see in my mind, and certainly couldn’t love. I dimly pictured some kind of Grandfather, who dealt out to bad people their awful “just deserts, ” which I thought must be poisoned food at the end of delicious meals. John Hersey
7
The reality is that changes are coming.... They must come. You must share in bringing them. John Hersey
8
Journalism allows it's readers to witness history. Fiction gives its readers an opportunity to live it. John Hersey
9
What has kept the world safe from the bomb since 1945 has not been deterrence, in the sense of fear of specific weapons, so much as it's been memory. The memory of what happened at Hiroshima. John Hersey