"It Could Happen Here - And Did," The New York Times (April 30, 1967); also in The Theater Essays of Arthur Miller (1996)

When irrational terror takes to itself the fiat of moral goodness somebody has to die. … No man lives who has not got a panic button, and when it is pressed by the clean white hand of moral duty, a certain murderous train is set in motion.

— Arthur Miller

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "When irrational terror takes to itself the fiat of moral goodness somebody has to die. … No man lives who has not got a panic button, and when it is pressed by the clean white hand of moral duty, a certain murderous train is set in motion." in the context of ""It Could Happen Here - And Did," The New York Times (April 30, 1967); also in The Theater Essays of Arthur Miller (1996)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Arthur Miller" (Quotes, 1954–1968) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Arthur Miller

About Arthur Miller

Arthur Asher Miller (17 October 1915 – 10 February 2005) was an American playwright, essayist, and author. Widely recognized as one of the most significant American playwrights of the 20th Century, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1949 for Death of a Salesman.