What do you think a person in the Bush administration who opposes this war should do?
I encourage people who are in the position now that I was in then — namely of seeing us about to embark on a wrongful, unjustified and illegitimate war that is a crime against the peace — to consider doing what I wish I had done in 1964.
That is, if they have documents indicating that the president is lying the public into such a war, they should take those documents to the Congress and to the press, and tell the truth — even if it costs them their clearance, their job, their career, even if puts them in prison.
— From the Salon Interview with Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon papers and author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon papers
One of the biggest struggles in every human life is challenging the status quo. It’s never easy, it’s rarely immediately rewarding, but doing the right thing hardly ever is. Nevertheless, we owe it to ourselves to think carefully about our role in every act. Every action or non-action we take is an act of will, and that’s not something you should squander in the short existence you have on this green planet. We never regret taking the right path. Even if you do go far on the wrong road, who exactly will your companions be? And where is the pleasure in consorting with people of weak morals?