“The right things lead to rational behavior — such as the substitution of reason for force — and so to freedom. The wrong things lead to brute force and slavery.
But the peace I describe is not passive. It must be won.”
Source: Alone (1938), Ch. 6
Context: The things that mankind has tested and found right make for harmony and progress — or peace; and the things it has found wrong hinder progress and make for discord. The right things lead to rational behavior — such as the substitution of reason for force — and so to freedom. The wrong things lead to brute force and slavery.
But the peace I describe is not passive. It must be won. Real peace comes from struggle that involves such things as effort, discipline, enthusiasm. This is also the way to strength. An inactive peace may lead to sensuality and flabbiness, which are discordant. It is often necessary to fight to lessen discord. This is the paradox.
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Richard Evelyn Byrd 21
Medal of Honor recipient and United States Navy officer 1888–1957Related quotes
Quoted in "USSR Information Bulletin" - 1942 - Page 358
Source: On Freedom (1958)
Context: It is wrong to think that belief in freedom always leads to victory; we must always be prepared for it to lead to defeat. If we choose freedom, then we must be prepared to perish along with it. Poland fought for freedom as no other country did. The Czech nation was prepared to fight for its freedom in 1938; it was not lack of courage that sealed its fate. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 — the work of young people with nothing to lose but their chains — triumphed and then ended in failure. … Democracy and freedom do not guarantee the millennium. No, we do not choose political freedom because it promises us this or that. We choose it because it makes possible the only dignified form of human coexistence, the only form in which we can be fully responsible for ourselves. Whether we realize its possibilities depends on all kinds of things — and above all on ourselves.
Broadcast from the Cabinet Rooms at 10 Downing Street (3 September 1939)
Prime Minister
Context: This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note, stating that, unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received and that consequently this country is at war with Germany. … It is evil things that we will be fighting against— brute force, bad faith, injustice, oppression and persecution— and against them I am certain that the right will prevail.
Quoted in “Collected works of Periyar E.V.R.” p. 511.
Rationalism
Source: Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals
From 1980s onwards, Cosmography (1992)
“There are certain things in a man that have to be won, not forced; inspired, not compelled.”
"We Cannot Legislate Intelligence, Morality, or Loyalty: These Must be Inspired, Not Compelled," Vital Speeches 19 (15 July 1953), p. 588; also in Liberal Education and the Democratic Ideal and Other Essays (1959) by Alfred Whitney Griswold, p. 106.
Paraphrased variant: There will be certain things in a man that have to be won, not forced; inspired, not compelled.
Context: There are certain things in a man that have to be won, not forced; inspired, not compelled. Among these are many, I should say most, of the things that constitute the good life. All are essential to democracy. All are proof against its enemies.
“A leader leads by example not by force.”
Source: The Art of War, Chapter IX · Movement and Development of Troops