I regard almost all quarrels of princes on the same footing, and I see nothing that marks man's unreason so positively as war. Indeed, what folly to kill one another for interests often imaginary, and always for the pleasure of persons who do not think themselves even obliged to those who sacrifice themselves for them!
Interpretation
The quote criticizes the senselessness of war and highlights the irrationality of conflicts driven by the selfish interests of leaders.
Mary Wortley Montagu's quote reflects on the absurdity of warfare, illustrating how conflicts between leaders often have little to do with the common people who bear the brunt of these quarrels. She emphasizes that many of these disputes are based on imaginary interests that serve only the privileged few, who remain indifferent to the sacrifices made by those who fight on their behalf. The quote showcases a deep frustration with the nature of war and the profound folly of killing in the name of such trivial matters.
In practice
During a discussion on the futility of war at a conference, one might quote Montagu to emphasize the irrationality of conflicts.
Whoever will cultivate their own mind will find full employment. Every virtue does not only require great care in the planting, but as much daily solicitude in cherishing as exotic fruits and flowers; the vices and passions (which I am afraid are the natural product of the soil) demand perpetual weeding. Add to this the search after knowledge. . . and the longest life is too short.
There is no remedy so easy as books, which if they do not give cheerfulness, at least restore quiet to the most troubled mind.
My chief study all my life has been to lighten misfortunes and multiply pleasures, as far as human nature can.
Strictly speaking, there is but one real evil: I mean acute pain. All other complaints are so considerably diminished by time that it is plain the grief is owing to our passion, since the sensation of it vanishes when that is over.
Crime generally punishes itself.
I suppose every one must have reflected how primeval and how poetical are the things that one carries in one's pocket; the pocket-knife, for instance, the type of all human tools, the infant of the sword. Once I planned to write a book of poems entirely about things in my pockets. But I found it would be too long; and the age of the great epics is past.
Human life in common is only made possible when a majority comes together which is stronger than any separate individual and which remains united against all separate individuals. The power of this community is then set up as right in opposition to the power of the individual, which is condemned as brute force.
If the thrill of hunting were in the hunt, or even in the marksmanship, a camera would do just as well.
In fact, entertainment has taken the place of celebration in the present world. But entertainment is quite different from celebration; entertainment and celebration are never the same. In celebration you are a participant; in entertainment you are only a spectator. In entertainment you watch others playing for you. So while celebration is active, entertainment is passive. In celebration you dance, while in entertainment you watch someone dancing, for which you pay him.
Though it be in the power of the weakest arm to take away life, it is not in the strongest to deprive us of death.
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