Great Throughts Treasury

"The Evil Will is more powerful when wrapped in the prayer-shawl of piety."

"War as an institution to ‘settle disputes’ and establish ‘justice among nations’ is the most barbarous and indefensible thing in civilization... The real disease of the world is the legality and availability of war... We should have, not as now, laws of war, but laws against war; there are no laws of murdering or of poisoning, but laws against them."

"Suppose this same distinction had been urged when the institution of dueling was outlawed... Suppose it had been urged that only 'aggressive dueling' should be outlawed and that 'defensive dueling' be left intact... Such a suggestion relative to dueling would have been silly, but the analogy is perfectly sound. What we did was to outlaw the institituion of dueling, a method theretofore recognized by law for the settlement of disputes of so-called honor."