Alan Watts Quotes
Wars based on principle are far more destructive... the attacker will not destroy that which he is after.
The speech was addressed to those American imperialist forces that were supporting the war in the Philippines.
There were some British politicians who had considered the possibility of supporting the South in the Civil War to assure their supply of cheap cotton. Entering the war by allying with the Confederacy was also a possibility. Lincoln used this phrase and instructed Adams to use that with the British politicians as the result if England get involved with the American Civil war. It is the closest phrase to “World War” until WWI.
the modern believe is that democracies are not prone to war, especially against other democracies. Seward, and some others believe that democracies can be pushed into war by politicians you do so for partisan political advantage. Politicians often have to show how tough they are.
Some think that for Europe, Nuclear Weapons performed this function.
This quotation is surprising in that Mrs. Roosevelt was a leading liberal and one of the leading advocates for peace. This quotation might have been authored by a right wing conservative of the early 21st century.
He grossly underestimated the intensity of the American patriotic feeling and the fighting ability of the Colonists. He Commanded the Royal Marines at the Battle of Bunker Hill where he was killed by a shot fired by ex-slave and Black Patriot, Peter Salem. Note the recommendation to destroy towns. At the time, that was considered improper in warfare between nations, yet it was not so clear in fighting a rebellion. However, this was against British policy and it was not a tactic employed in trying to suppress the American Revolution.
The Germans wanted war with Serbia and used the dispute between Austria and Serbia as an excuse to mobilize and go to war ostensibly to protect their ally, the Austrian Empire, from the Serbs who they knew would be likely supported by Russia which had traditionally supported their fellow Eastern Orthodox against Roman Catholic or Protestant enemies. Russia still tends to protect and support the Serbs. This statement was one of the many that showed that Germany was the major aggressor in the First World War and therefore had to pay reparations to France and others.
Alan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer and speaker known for interpreting and popularising Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, England, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York. He received a master's degree in theology from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and became an Episcopal priest in 1945. He left the ministry in 1950 and moved to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies.