Playing the game I have learned the meaning of humility. It has given me an understanding of futility of the human effort.
Abba EbanRead
I think that this is the first war in history that on the morrow the victors sued for peace and the vanquished called for unconditional surrender.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the unusual nature of a war where the victors sought peace while the defeated demanded total surrender.
Abba Eban's quote reflects on a historical paradox during a specific conflict where the prevailing side, rather than celebrating their victory with aggression, sought a peaceful resolution. Conversely, those who were defeated requested unconditional surrender, which turns the usual narrative of war on its head, suggesting a deeper complexity to the motivations and circumstances surrounding the outcomes of conflict.
Themes
WarPeaceSurrenderVictoryHistory
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about historical conflicts, this quote could illustrate how even winners might seek peace.
More from Abba Eban
All quotes →Tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss.
Abba EbanRead
Nobody does Israel any service by proclaiming its 'right to exist.' Israel's right to exist, like that of the United States, Saudi Arabia and 152 other states, is axiomatic and unreserved. Israel's legitimacy is not suspended in midair awaiting acknowledgement.... There is certainly no other state, big or small, young or old, that would consider mere recognition of its 'right to exist' a favor, or a negotiable concession.
Abba EbanRead
A nation writes its history in the image of its ideal.
Abba EbanRead
It is our experience that political leaders do not always mean the opposite of what they say.
Abba EbanRead
A statesman who keeps his ear permanently glued to the ground will have neither elegance of posture nor flexibility of movement.
Abba EbanRead
Similar quotes
A war doesn’t merely kill off a few thousand or a few hundred thousand young men. It kills off something in a people that can never be brought back. And if a people goes through enough wars, pretty soon all that’s left is the brute, the creature that we—you and I and others like us—have brought up from the slime.
John Edward WilliamsRead
Air Power is, above all, a psychological weapon - and only short-sighted soldiers, too battle-minded, underrate the importance of psychological factors in war.
B. H. Liddell HartRead
All you have to do is hold your first soldier who is dying in your arms, and have that terribly futile feeling that I can't do anything about it... Then you understand the horror of war.
Norman SchwarzkopfRead
In the account book of the Great War the page recording the Russian losses has been ripped out. The figures are unknown. Five millions, or eight? We ourselves know not. All we know is that, at times, fighting the Russians, we had to remove the piles of enemy bodies from before our trenches, so as to get a clear field of fire against new waves of assault.
Paul Von HindenburgRead
Women are so much a part of war, even if they tend to see another side of it. To say they don't understand war is ridiculous.
Margaret MacmillanRead
In a guerrilla war, the line between legitimate and illegitimate killing is blurred. The policies of free-fire zones, in which a soldier is permitted to shoot at any human target, armed or unarmed, further confuse the fighting man's moral senses.
Philip CaputoRead