“We need not war to awaken human energy. There is at least equal scope for courage and magnanimity in blessing, as in destroying mankind.”

War (1816)
Context: We need not war to awaken human energy. There is at least equal scope for courage and magnanimity in blessing, as in destroying mankind. The condition of the human race offers inexhaustible objects for enterprise, and fortitude, and magnanimity. In relieving the countless wants and sorrows of the world, in exploring unknown regions, in carrying the arts and virtues of civilization to unimproved communities, in extending the bounds of knowledge, in diffusing the spirit of freedom, and especially in spreading the light and influence of Christianity, how much may be dared, how much endured!

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William Ellery Channing 71
United States Unitarian clergyman 1780–1842

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