If You Want Peace, Understand War.

The Most Consistently Successful Commanders, When Faced By An Enemy In A Position That Was Strong Naturally Or Materially, Have Hardly Ever Tackled It In A Direct Way. And When, Under Pressure Of Circumstances, They Have Risked A Direct Attack, The Result Has Commonly Been To Blot Their Record With A Failure.

I Used To Think That The Causes Of War Were Predominantly Economic. I Came To Think That They Were More Psychological. I Am Now Coming To Think That They Are Decisively "personal," Arising From The Defects And Ambitions Of Those Who Have The Power To Influence The Currents Of Nations.

The Principle Of Compulsory Service, Embodied In The System Of Conscription, Lias Been The Means By Which Modem Dictators And Military Gangs Have Shackled Their People After A Coup D'état, And Bound Them To Their Own Aggressive Purposes. In View Of The Great Service That Conscription Has Rendered To Tyranny And War, It Is Fundamentally Shortsighted For Any Liberty-loving And Peace-desiring Peoples To Maintain It As An Imagined Safeguard, Lest They Become The Victims Of The Monster They Have Helped To Preserve.

Opposition To The Truth Is Inevitable, Especially If It Takes The Form Of A New Idea, But The Degree Of Resistance Can Be Diminished- By Giving Thought Not Only To The Aim But To The Method Of Approach. Avoid A Frontal Attack On A Long Established Position; Instead, Seek To Turn It By Flank Movement, So That A More Penetrable Side Is Exposed To The Thrust Of Truth. But, In Any Such Indirect Approach, Take Care Not To Diverge From The Truth- For Nothing Is More Fatal To Its Real Advancement Than To Lapse Into Untruth.

The Urge To Gain Release From Tension By Action Is A Precipitating Cause Of War.