Ironic Quotes

I originally posted this on my old website on March 21, 2006.

IRONIC QUOTES

I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder....Modern ship-building has gone beyond that.

--Edward J. Smith in 1907

Edward J. Smith was the White Star Line's most respected captain in 1907, and boasted of never having been in an accident worth mentioning. The White Star Line often gave him the honor of being Captain on the maiden voyage of a new ship, and in 1912 Smith planned to retire after serving as Captain on the maiden voyage of the world's largest ocean liner (at the time): the supposedly unsinkable R.M.S. Titanic. The Titanic struck an iceberg and sunk on that maiden voyage, and Smith chose to go down with his ship, becoming one of over 1,500 people to perish that night. I can't help but wonder if, as the ship sank under him, Captain Smith recalled making this arrogant statement.

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Machine guns are overrated, airplanes silly and tanks mere toys.

--General Ferdinand Foch

Ferdinand Foch was a top General in the French Army during World War I. He died before World War II indisputably proved him wrong about military technology, though I wonder what the Red Baron thought of him.

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This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future.

--Adolf Hitler in 1935

There are probably a lot of ironic Hitler quotes, but I think this one is interesting. The year 1935 isn't known for the beginning of gun registration, and the last thing most of the world wants to do is follow Nazi Germany's lead on anything. Over 70 years later, the battle over gun registration continues, and Hitler's assertions about gun registration bringing safer streets and more efficient police have yet to be either proven or disproven definitively.

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You can support the troops but not the President.

--Tom DeLay in 1999

Tom DeLay, a Republican Congressman, said this during Democrat Bill Clinton's presidency. At the time, American troops were deployed in Kosovo under Clinton's orders, and most Republicans disapproved of Clinton's decision to send in the troops. A few years later, with Republican George W. Bush as President and American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, the tables were turned, and it was the Democrats who were expressing this belief, while Republicans linked supporting the President with supporting the troops.