“Let us recollect that peace or war will not always be left to our option; that however moderate or unambitious we may be, we cannot count upon the moderation, or hope to extinguish the ambition of others.”
No. 34
The Federalist Papers (1787–1788)
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Alexander Hamilton106
Founding Father of the United States 1757–1804Related quotes
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
1900s, Speak softly and carry a big stick (1901)
Variant: Let us make it evident that we intend to do justice. Then let us make it equally evident that we will not tolerate injustice being done us in return. Let us further make it evident that we use no words which we are not which prepared to back up with deeds, and that while our speech is always moderate, we are ready and willing to make it good. Such an attitude will be the surest possible guarantee of that self-respecting peace, the attainment of which is and must ever be the prime aim of a self-governing people.
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
1963, Remarks Prepared for Delivery at the Trade Mart in Dallas
“The Essence of War is Violence. Moderation in War is Imbecility.”
John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher (1841–1920) Royal Navy admiral of the fleet
p. 75. https://archive.org/stream/cu31924027924509#page/n104/mode/1up <br class="br"> Records (1919) https://archive.org/stream/cu31924027924509#page/n0/mode/1up
Thomas Weber (historian) (1974) German historian
Source: Becoming Hitler: The Making of a Nazi (2017), p. 67
“As there must be moderation in other things, so there must be moderation in self-criticism.”
Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist
Source: The Principles of Ethics (1897), Part III: The Ethics of Individual Life, Ch. 10, General Conclusions
Context: As there must be moderation in other things, so there must be moderation in self-criticism. Perpetual contemplation of our own actions produces a morbid consciousness, quite unlike that normal consciousness accompanying right actions spontaneously done; and from a state of unstable equilibrium long maintained by effort, there is apt to be a fall towards stable equilibrium, in which the primitive nature reasserts itself. Retrogression rather than progression may hence result.
Charles Caleb Colton (1777–1832) British priest and writer
Vol I; XXXVII
Lacon (1820)
José Rizal (1861–1896) Filipino writer, ophthalmologist, polyglot and nationalist
Letter to Fr. Pastells (4 April 1893)
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) American politician, 36th president of the United States (in office from 1963 to 1969)
1960s, State of the Union Address (1966)