Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no need of change.
H. G. WellsRead
Once the command of the air is obtained by one of the contending armies, the war becomes a conflict between a seeing host and one that is blind.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Air superiority determines the advantage in warfare, making one side significantly more powerful.
H. G. Wells emphasizes the critical importance of air control in warfare, suggesting that once one army gains dominance in the skies, it can effectively observe and engage its opponent while the latter remains unaware and vulnerable. This metaphor reflects broader themes of knowledge and awareness in any competition, highlighting how critical it is to have an informed and strategic advantage over one's rivals.
Themes
WarfareAir SuperiorityStrategyAdvantageKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
During a military briefing, a general could reference this quote to illustrate the importance of securing air control.
More from H. G. Wells
All quotes βHe spares no resource in telling of his dead inventions... Bare verbs he rarely tolerates. He splits infinitives and fills them up with adverbial stuffing. He presses the passing colloquialism into his service. His vast paragraphis sweat and struggle; the
H. G. WellsRead
It [a new world order] needs only that the governments of Britain, the United States, France, Germany, and Russia should get together in order to set up an effective control of currency, credit, production, and distribution β that is to say, an effective βdictatorship of prosperity,β for the whole world. The other sixty odd States would have to join in or accommodate themselves to the over-ruling decisions of these major Powers.
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Things that would have made fame of a less clever man seemed tricks in his hands. It is a mistake to do things too easily.
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But I was too restless to watch long; I'm too Occidental for a long vigil. I could work at a problem for years, but to wait inactive for twenty-four hours - that's another matter.
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The greatest task of democracy, its ritual and feast - is choice.
H. G. WellsRead
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