“A war is never undertaken by the ideal state, except in defense of its honor or its safety.”
De Re Publica, Book 3, Chapter 23
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Marcus Tullius Cicero180
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“The state of crisis is the real war; the equilibrium is nothing but its reflex.”
Carl von Clausewitz book On War
On War (1832), Book 3
My Day (1935–1962)
Context: In times past, the question usually asked by women was "How can we best help to defend our nation?" I cannot remember a time when the question on so many people's lips was "How can we prevent war?"
There is a widespread understanding among the people of this nation, and probably among the people of the world, that there is no safety except through the prevention of war. For many years war has been looked upon as almost inevitable in the solution of any question that has arisen between nations, and the nation that was strong enough to do so went about building up its defenses and its power to attack. It felt that it could count on these two things for safety. (20 December 1961)
Slavoj Žižek (1949) Slovene philosopher
Source: Less Than Nothing (2012), Chapter Two, The Thing Itself: Hegel, pp. 200