"The most terrifying moment in my life was October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I did not know all the facts - we have learned only recently how close we were to war - but I knew enough to make me tremble"
About this Quote
The line about learning “only recently how close we were to war” lands like a delayed aftershock. Rotblat is reminding us that history’s most dangerous moments are often understood in full only after the people who survived them have already normalized the outcome. That time lag becomes its own horror: we live inside narratives designed to reassure, then later discover how contingent survival was.
“Tremble” is a deliberately unscientific verb. Rotblat chooses the body over the lab, insisting that rational expertise doesn’t cancel dread; it should sharpen it. The intent is persuasion through credibility: a man trained to quantify danger tells you the numbers weren’t the scariest part. The scariest part was the system that made catastrophe plausible, and made ignorance a feature, not a bug.
Quote Details
| Topic | War |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Rotblat, Joseph. (2026, January 17). The most terrifying moment in my life was October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I did not know all the facts - we have learned only recently how close we were to war - but I knew enough to make me tremble. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-most-terrifying-moment-in-my-life-was-october-68520/
Chicago Style
Rotblat, Joseph. "The most terrifying moment in my life was October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I did not know all the facts - we have learned only recently how close we were to war - but I knew enough to make me tremble." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-most-terrifying-moment-in-my-life-was-october-68520/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The most terrifying moment in my life was October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I did not know all the facts - we have learned only recently how close we were to war - but I knew enough to make me tremble." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-most-terrifying-moment-in-my-life-was-october-68520/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
