“I took a train from Berlin to Vienna on a certain date, close to the first of April, 1933. The train was empty. The same train the next day was overcrowded, was stopped at the frontier, the people had to get out, and everybody was interrogated by the Nazis. This just goes to show that if you want to succeed in this world you don’t have to be much cleverer than other people, you just have to be one day earlier.” – Leo Szilard, a Jewish Hungarian physicist and father of nuclear physics, as quoted in The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes.
SurvivalBlog reader S.H. in Texas sent us this quote and notes: “This provides a lesson on Bugging Out. Interestingly, Szilard had been pessimistic about the German political scene for quite some time, and lived with his suitcases packed! He decided to leave around April 1, 1933, when a national boycott of Jewish businesses was organized. Dr. Szilard made it to America, where he became a primary researcher in unlocking the power of the atom. Interestingly, he drafted the famous letter from Albert Einstein to President Roosevelt, warning him of advancements in nuclear physics which had drawn the attention of Hitler’s regime, and was the spark that lit the Manhattan Project.”
Re. Quote of the Day
Yes, great lesson on bugging out (and prepping).
S.H. thanks for sharing.
The goal we all strive for is getting off the X faster than everyone else by collecting information, processing thoughts and action.
This is a very good example.
As is often true in life, “Better a day early than a day late”, but as my usual luck goes, I’m always on the train later than I need to be. So the only saving grace I have working for me is that, “If I get any further I’ll be ahead of everyone else”…. That came from an old time comedian sometime, somewhere, but I can’t remember who or when, one of the Marx brothers comes to mind.