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Quote#Science & Reason

When whole nations are the armies, and the science of destruction…

Quote byWilliam James · 1842–1910

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Moral Equivalent of War (1906).

English (original)

when whole nations are the armies, and the science of destruction vies in intellectual refinement with the science of production, I see that war becomes absurd and impossible from its own monstrosity. Extravagant ambitions will have to be replaced by reasonable claims, and nations must make common cause against them.

— William James

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