I agree with you, Liz, but its taking the thought a bit too literally. Thats the problem with such sayings - they have to over simplify! You could say that the main sufferings you list were 'heart' caused by 'mind' potential wasted. But equally you could say that the loss of an high-quality mind like, say Isaac Newton, would be far more significant than the fact that he was an irritable social misfit.

My main objection to the saying is that I am sure the highjackers would say that "fulfilling their souls' potential" is precisely what they were doing, to the best of their understanding. I have certain been very much more aware of the military and even quite violent messages in a lot of the Christian hymns, whether your pick something that is quite old (like "St Patrick's Breastplate") or fairly new such as "Lord you have my Heart" by Martin Smith (eg "Let me be to you a Sacrifice" - you can just imagine the pilots singing that)