War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. - John Stuart Mill
This quote was featured at Austin's graduation from Basic Training and became my favorite quote about war. Want to guess when it was written? You'll be surprised.
7 comments:
Without looking it up first, I'll guess during WWII.
I'm more than worried by how Americans are becoming defeatists, ready to throw in the towel. (As if that'll make all the problems go away!)
May I guess mid to late 1800's?
While I've never been able to get an exact date, based on his life time (1806 - 1873) mid-1800s is a good guess, Mel's mom!
Some day I will get the exact year at least.
amx3 - yes this extension applies to ALL Army troops either presently in country or going in the future. I wish I was numb. I'm so angry right now, I could spit nails. and they did it again! The media had the news before the troops!!!!! DAMMIT can't they do ANYTHING right?
LAW
Just so you know- I totally cheated- I looked it up...
Mel's Mom --- I'm shocked!
Not really. When I first saw the quote I had no idea when it was written and when I saw the likely time period I was surprised.
If we look at significant times in the entire world, they are defined by WARS. Ante-bellum (pre-Civil War), Baby Boomers (post WWII); our own country was established by fighting a war. I hate war.
Just so you know, I am going to use it in a shout out and send you some of my readers, I love it.
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