Governments may prepare systems of defense and rescue, of protection and relief, but the only adequate form that will save half their peoples is outside their capacity and beyond their courage. They are too hypnotized by the past to be able to rise abruptly out of it and meet an utterly different kind of future. It is for the individual who does not want to die prematurely to prepare now with the work of saving himself. This is neither a selfish nor an antisocial course to follow, for in doing so he will best be able to help and save others. It is the only practical thing he can do and it is a duty which he owes himself and his family: to refuse to hang onto the coats of helpless leaders who are being driven toward the edge of an abyss. There is nothing wrong in practising such self-preservation, and any real service that he can render to humanity will only become possible through it.
-- Notebooks Category 13: Human Experience > Chapter 4 : World Crisis > # 348
