I regard almost all quarrels of princes on the same footing, and I see nothing that marks man's unreason so positively as war. Indeed, what folly to kill one another for interests often imaginary, and always for the pleasure of persons who do not think themselves even obliged to those who sacrifice themselves for them!
Interpretation
The quote criticizes the senselessness of war and highlights the irrationality of conflicts driven by the selfish interests of leaders.
Mary Wortley Montagu's quote reflects on the absurdity of warfare, illustrating how conflicts between leaders often have little to do with the common people who bear the brunt of these quarrels. She emphasizes that many of these disputes are based on imaginary interests that serve only the privileged few, who remain indifferent to the sacrifices made by those who fight on their behalf. The quote showcases a deep frustration with the nature of war and the profound folly of killing in the name of such trivial matters.
In practice
During a discussion on the futility of war at a conference, one might quote Montagu to emphasize the irrationality of conflicts.
Whoever will cultivate their own mind will find full employment. Every virtue does not only require great care in the planting, but as much daily solicitude in cherishing as exotic fruits and flowers; the vices and passions (which I am afraid are the natural product of the soil) demand perpetual weeding. Add to this the search after knowledge. . . and the longest life is too short.
There is no remedy so easy as books, which if they do not give cheerfulness, at least restore quiet to the most troubled mind.
My chief study all my life has been to lighten misfortunes and multiply pleasures, as far as human nature can.
Strictly speaking, there is but one real evil: I mean acute pain. All other complaints are so considerably diminished by time that it is plain the grief is owing to our passion, since the sensation of it vanishes when that is over.
Contemporaneous with the financial crisis we have an ecological crisis and a health crisis. They are intimately interlinked. We cannot convert much more of the earth into money, or much more of our health into money, before the basis of life itself is threatened.
Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are.
There isn't a King Lear for women, or a Henry V, or a Richard III. You reach a level where you can handle that stuff technically and mentally, and it's not there.
Life is a near-death experience.
If by some magic, autism had been eradicated from the face of the Earth, then men would still be socializing in front of a wood fire at the entrance to a cave.
Those of us who were brought up as Christians and have lost our faith have retained the sense of sin without the saving belief in redemption. This poisons our thought and so paralyses us in action.
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