WIST Quotations

Churchill, Winston -- My Early Life: A Roving Commission, ch. 18 “With Buller to the Cape” (1930)

Dave — Mon, 24 May 2010 12:48:42 +0000

Let us learn our lessons. Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. Antiquated War Offices, weak, incompetent, or arrogant Commanders, untrustworthy allies, hostile neutrals, malignant Fortune, ugly surprises, awful miscalculations — all take their seats at the Council Board on the morrow of a declaration of war. Always remember, however sure you are that you could easily win, that there would not be a war if the other man did not think he also had a chance.

Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British statesman and author
My Early Life: A Roving Commission, ch. 18 “With Buller to the Cape” (1930)
(Source)

On his overconfidence in 1899 prior to the Boer War. See Pleve (1903).

Tacitus -- Histories, Book I, ch. 39 (AD 100-110)

Dave — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:18:38 +0000

Once killing starts, it is difficult to draw the line.

Tacitus (c.56-c.120) Roman historian, orator, politician [Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus]
Histories, Book I, ch. 39 (AD 100-110)

Hobbes, Thomas -- Leviathan, Part 1, ch. 13 (1651)

Dave — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:00:01 +0000

Hereby it is manifest that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man against every man.

Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) English philosopher
Leviathan, Part 1, ch. 13 (1651)
(Source)