I saw in the whole Christian world a license of fighting at which even barbarous nations might blush. Wars were begun on trifling pretexts or none at all, and carried on without any reference of law, Divine or human.
Interpretation
Grotius critiques the moral decay of warfare in the Christian world, highlighting the lack of justifications for conflict.
In this quote, Hugo Grotius laments the state of the Christian world where wars are initiated on trivial grounds, reflecting a profound moral failure. He points out that even the most primitive societies would be ashamed of such indiscriminate violence, which occurs without adherence to either divine or human law, suggesting a deep philosophical reflection on the nature of justice and morality in human conflict.
In practice
In a speech at a peace conference, one might use this quote to emphasize the need for just causes in warfare.
A man cannot govern a nation if he cannot govern a city; he cannot govern a city if he cannot govern a family; he cannot govern a family unless he can govern himself; and he cannot govern himself unless his passions are subject to reason
By undertaking many things, I have accomplished nothing.
Men rush to arms for slight causes, or no cause at all, and once taken up there is no longer any respect for law, divine or human.
I confused things with their names: that is belief.
This is what language does: organize the world into manageable, and in some sense artificial, units that can then be inhabited and manipulated.
Emotional life is - alongside work - one of the great challenges of existence and is a theme that I keep returning to.
Two days overdue, THE WORLD'S WORK has not reached me. Pray make a note of this. I would rather not have to resort to violence.
It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.
The man who sat on the ground in his tipi meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures and acknowledging unity with the universe of things, was infusing into his being the true essence of civilization.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.