• Robert McNamara: I'm not so naive or simplistic to believe we can eliminate war. We're not going to change human nature any time soon. It isn't that we aren't rational. We are rational. But reason has limits. There's a quote from T.S. Eliot that I just love: "We shall not cease from exploring, and at the end of our exploration, we will return to where we started, and know the place for the first time." Now that's in a sense where I'm beginning to be. 罗伯特·麦克纳马拉:我没有那么天真单纯相信我们能消除战争。我们不会很快改变人类的本性的。这不是我们不理性。我们是理性的。但理智有限度。艾略特曾经说我只是喜欢:“我们将不会停止探索,最后我们探索,我们将回到我们最初的地方。”现在,在某种意义上来说,我正在开始。
  • Robert McNamara: What makes us omniscient? Have we a record of omniscience? We are the strongest nation in the world today. I do not believe we should ever apply that economic, political, or military power unilaterally. If we had followed that rule in Vietnam, we wouldn't have been there! None of our allies supported us; not Japan, not Germany, not Britain or France. If we can't persuade nations with comparable values of the merit of our cause, we'd better reexamine our reasoning. 罗伯特·麦克纳马拉:什么使我们无所不知吗?我们有记录吗?我们是当今世界上最强大的国家。我不认为我们应该将经济、政治和军事力量的单方面应用于政治上。如果我们在越南遵循这条原则,我们就不可能在那里!我们的盟友没有支持我们,不是日本,不是德国,不是英国或法国。如果我们不能用我们价值观去说服国家,我们最好重新审视我们的理由。
  • Robert McNamara: In the end, it was luck. We were *this* close to nuclear war, and luck prevented it. 罗伯特·麦克纳马拉:在最后,这是运气。我们离核战争多么近,但是幸运的是我们阻止了它发生。
  • Robert McNamara: Any military commander who is honest with himself, or with those he is speaking to, will admit that he has made mistakes in the application of military power. He's killed people - unnecessarily. His own troops or other troops. Through mistakes, through errors of judgement. A hundred, or a thousand, or ten thousand, maybe even a hundred thousand. But he hasn't destroyed nations. 麦克纳·马拉罗伯特:任何一个对自己诚实的军事指挥官,或者与他说话的人都承认他在军事方面犯了错误。他杀害了一些不必要的人。他自己的部队或其他部队。尽管犯过错误,尽管犯过错误的判断。一百,或一千,或一万,甚至十万。但他没有毁灭国家。 Robert McNamara: And the conventional wisdom is: don't make the same mistake twice. Learn from your mistakes. And we all do. Maybe we make the mistake three times, but hopefully not four or five. 麦克纳·马拉罗伯特:传统的智慧是:不要犯同样的错误两次。从你的错误中吸取教训。我们也都要这样做。也许我们犯了三次错误,但希望不是四次或五次。 Robert McNamara: They'll be no learning period with nuclear weapons. Make one mistake and you're going to destroy nations. 麦克纳·马拉罗伯特:他们不会了解核武器。犯一个错误,你将摧毁国家。
  • Robert McNamara: LeMay said if we lost the war that we would have all been prosecuted as war criminals. And I think he's right. He... and I'd say I... were behaving as war criminals. 麦克纳·马拉罗伯特:勒梅说如果我们输了这场战争,我们都会被当成战争罪犯被起诉。我想他是对的。他…我也会说被当作战犯。 Robert McNamara: LeMay recognized that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side has lost. 麦克纳·马拉罗伯特:勒梅承认他所做的会被认为是非道德的,如果他失去了立场。 Robert McNamara: But what makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win? 麦克纳·马拉罗伯特:但是,如果你输了,不道德的是什么?如果你赢了,道德是什么?
  • John F. Kennedy: We're not going to get these missiles out of Cuba, probably, anyway... by negotiation. 约翰·肯尼迪:我们不会从古巴发射这些导弹,也许,不管怎样…通过协商。 Tommy Thompson: I don't agree, Mr. President. I think there's still a chance... 汤米·汤普森:我不同意,总统先生。我想还是有机会… John F. Kennedy: That he'll back down? 约翰·肯尼迪:他会回来吗? Tommy Thompson: The important thing for Khrushchev, it seems to me, is to be able to say, "I saved Cuba, I stopped an invasion". 赫鲁晓夫:对我来说最重要的事情是,在我看来,“我救了古巴,我阻止了一次进攻”,这对我来说很重要,汤普森。
  • Robert McNamara: I said, "I must have got the translation wrong." So I asked him 3 questions. One- did you know there were nuclear warheads in Cuba? Two- would you have recommended to Khrushchev to use nuclear missiles in the event of an American invasion of Cuba? And three- what would have happened to Cuba? He said, "One- I knew the missiles were there. Two- I would not *have* recommended it, I *did* recommend it! And three- we would have been totally obliterated". 罗伯特·麦克纳马拉:我说,“我一定是把翻译弄错了。”所以我问他3个问题。一,你知道古巴有核弹头吗?二,在美国入侵古巴事件中,你会向赫鲁晓夫推荐使用核导弹吗?三,什么会发生在古巴?他说,“我知道有导弹在那里。两-我不做推荐,我是不会推荐的!最后我们都将被彻底毁灭”。
  • Robert McNamara: I think the human race needs to think more about killing. How much evil must we do in order to do good? 罗伯特·麦克纳马拉:我认为人类需要考虑更多的杀戮。为了做好事,我们必须做多少坏事儿?
  • Interviewer: Is it the feeling that you're damned if you do, and if you don't, no matter what? 记者:如果你这样做的话,是不是觉得你是该死,如果你不这样做,不管是什么? Robert McNamara: Yeah, yeah, that's right. And I'd rather be damned if I don't. 罗伯特·麦克纳马拉:是的,是的,这是正确的。如果我不这样做,我宁愿被诅咒。
  • Lyndon Johnson: Nobody really understands what it is out there. 约翰逊林顿:没有人真正了解它。 Lyndon Johnson: And they're asking questions and saying why don't we do more. Well, I think this: You can have more war, or you can have more appeasement. But we don't want more of either. 约翰逊林顿:他们问的问题,并说为什么我们不做更多的。嗯,我认为:你可以有更多的战争,或者你可以有更多的绥靖政策。但我们也不希望有更多。