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Fan Works
"In a world where not everyone is sane, it is the height of insanity to believe you could create a weapon so devastating, so horrible, that no one would dare use it."
— Steelhooves, Fallout: Equestria
Literature
"And he yelled, 'My Blue-Gooer is working just fine!
And I'm here to say that if Yooks can goo Zooks,
you'd better forget it. 'Cause Zooks can goo Yooks!'"
And I'm here to say that if Yooks can goo Zooks,
you'd better forget it. 'Cause Zooks can goo Yooks!'"
Films - Live Action
Dr. Strangelove: The whole point of the doomsday machine...is lost if you keep it a secret! Why didn't you tell the world, eh?!
Ambassador Alexi: It was to be announced at the party congress on Monday. As you know, the premier loves surprises.
Ambassador Alexi: It was to be announced at the party congress on Monday. As you know, the premier loves surprises.
—Dr. Strangelove, on a doomsday machine that would end the world if Russia was hit with a nuke
"The only winning move is not to play."
— JOSHUA, WarGames
A perfect acronym if ever there was one.
Dr. Conrad Zimsky, The Core
Live Action TV
Cpt. Blackadder: You see, Baldrick, in order to prevent war in Europe, two superblocs developed: us, the French and the Russians on one side, and the Germans and Austro-Hungary on the other. The idea was to have two vast opposing armies, each acting as the other's deterrent. That way, there could never be a war.
Pvt. Baldrick: But, this is a sort of a war, isn't it, sir?
Blackadder: Yes, that's right. You see, there was a tiny flaw in the plan.
Baldrick: What was that, sir?
Blackadder: It was bollocks.
Pvt. Baldrick: But, this is a sort of a war, isn't it, sir?
Blackadder: Yes, that's right. You see, there was a tiny flaw in the plan.
Baldrick: What was that, sir?
Blackadder: It was bollocks.
— Blackadder Goes Forth
There are some fights you just can't win. A force can be so overwhelming that no tactical approach in a fight is going to lead to a victory worth having... When you can't win in a fight, sometimes you have to settle for making sure that if you lose, everyone loses. It works for nuclear weapons; it works for me.
— Michael Westen, Burn Notice, "Loose Ends"
"These kind people are working on a missile which, in time of trouble, is gonna solve all our problems by blowing up the world."
— Herman Munster, The Munsters
Sam: Look, Dean, this whole "enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing feels kind of like a demon deal.
Dean: It's not a deal. It's—
Sam: It's what?
Dean: Mutually assured destruction.
Dean: It's not a deal. It's—
Sam: It's what?
Dean: Mutually assured destruction.
— Supernatural, "The Born-Again Identity"
Music
"I see their missiles. east and west
and they're pointing straight at you
they are rearming to be the best
and there is nothing you can do"
and they're pointing straight at you
they are rearming to be the best
and there is nothing you can do"
— Pretty Maids, "Battle of Pride"
"I have seen it estimated
somewhere between death and birth,
there are now three thousand million
people living on this Earth.
And the stockpiled mass destruction,
of the Nuclear Powers-that-be,
equals, for each man or woman,
Twenty Tons Of TNT."
somewhere between death and birth,
there are now three thousand million
people living on this Earth.
And the stockpiled mass destruction,
of the Nuclear Powers-that-be,
equals, for each man or woman,
Twenty Tons Of TNT."
— Flanders and Swann, Twenty Tons Of TNT.
Webcomics
Petey: I have moral issues with Mutually Assured Destruction. Its failure state is terribly unpleasant.
Breya: "Unpleasant." Nicely understated.
Chu: Nobody likes it. That's why it works.
Petey: Eventually, you will find someone who does like it. And then, despite all the very horrible words I may choose to deploy, I will only ever be able to understate the unpleasantness.
Breya: "Unpleasant." Nicely understated.
Chu: Nobody likes it. That's why it works.
Petey: Eventually, you will find someone who does like it. And then, despite all the very horrible words I may choose to deploy, I will only ever be able to understate the unpleasantness.
Web Original
"It's like we as a species have collectively pulled the pin on a grenade. We're not sure we can put it back in, we know we better not drop it. We can only hope that the brain that figured out how to make that grenade can figure out a way to save us from it."
— SFDebris on The Day After
Real Life
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
— Popularly attributed to Albert Einstein
"Here, as I understand it, is how the MX is supposed to work: We would put a bunch of missiles where the Russians can't hit them with their missiles. That way, if the Russians shoot at us, we'll be able to shoot back, and everybody will wind up dead. This is considered to be much more desirable than what would happen without the MX, namely that the Russians would still be alive and we would be dead. Obviously, the best solution would be for us to be alive and the Russians to be dead, but for this to happen we would have to shoot first, and we wouldn't do that because the whole reason we built all these nuclear devices in the first place is to preserve world peace. So we are going for the peace-loving solution, which is to guarantee that if anybody attacks anybody, everybody winds up dead."
