Source: Utopia (1516), Ch. 8 : Of Their Military Discipline
Context: In no victory do they glory so much as in that which is gained by dexterity and good conduct without bloodshed. In such cases they appoint public triumphs, and erect trophies to the honour of those who have succeeded; for then do they reckon that a man acts suitably to his nature, when he conquers his enemy in such a way as that no other creature but a man could be capable of, and that is by the strength of his understanding. Bears, lions, boars, wolves, and dogs, and all other animals, employ their bodily force one against another, in which, as many of them are superior to men, both in strength and fierceness, so they are all subdued by his reason and understanding.
“Press bravely onward! — not in vain
Your generous trust in human kind;
The good which bloodshed could not gain
Your peaceful zeal shall find.”
To the Reformers of England, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
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John Greenleaf Whittier 47
American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slave… 1807–1892Related quotes
“O proud philanthropist, your hope is vain
To get by giving what you lost by gain.”
Source: Epigrams, p. 349. Previously appeared in "Small Contributions", Cosmopolitan, Vol. 42, No. 6 (April 1907) p. 695.
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 118.
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1780s, Letter to Peter Carr (1787)