To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
Aldous HuxleyRead
What is absurd and monstrous about war is that men who have no personal quarrel should be trained to murder one another in cold blood.
Interpretation
What this quote means
War trains individuals to kill each other despite having no personal conflicts, highlighting the absurdity of such violence.
Aldous Huxley's quote reflects on the paradoxical nature of war, where people with no direct animus towards each other are conditioned to commit acts of violence. It underlines the moral and ethical dilemmas that arise when societal structures prepare individuals to engage in cold-blooded murder for reasons that often have little to do with their personal beliefs or relationships.
Themes
WarViolenceAbsurdityMurderCold BloodPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on the futility of war, one might quote Huxley to emphasize the moral implications of conflict.
More from Aldous Huxley
All quotes βFacts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
Aldous HuxleyRead
In the course of history many more people have died for their drink and their dope than have died for their religion or their country.
Aldous HuxleyRead
On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.
Aldous HuxleyRead
No man ever dared to manifest his boredom so insolently as does a Siamese tomcat when he yawns in the face of his amorously importunate wife.
Aldous HuxleyRead
The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace, The prurient ape's defiling touch: And do you like the human race? No, not much.
Aldous HuxleyRead
Similar quotes
Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.
Dalai LamaRead
Spiritual power is the eternal guide, in this life and the life after, for man ranks supreme among all creatures. Led forward by spiritual power, man can reach the summit destined for him by the Great Creator.
Haile SelassieRead
The phrase "It's absolutely the same with me, I..." seems to be an approving echo, a way of continuing the other's thought, but that is an illusion: in reality it is a brute revolt against a brutal violence, an effort to free our own ear from bondage and to occupy the enemy's ear by force. Because all of man's life among his kind is nothing other than a battle to seize the ear of others.
Milan KunderaRead
But you are involved in the world, and your actions have consequences for other people, and if you don't recognize that, then that's the supreme kind of cruelty. Everyone shares someone else's fate to some extent.
Malcolm BradburyRead
Candor and accountability in a democracy is very important. Hypocrisy has no place.
Alan DershowitzRead
Nelson Mandela is physically separated from us, but his soul and spirit will never die. He belongs to the whole world because he is an icon of equality, freedom and love, the values we need all the time everywhere.
Malala YousafzaiRead