The stark and inescapable fact is that today we cannot defend our society by war since total war is total destruction, and if war is used as an instrument of policy, eventually we will have total war.
Lester B. PearsonRead
We know now that in modern warfare, fought on any considerable scale, there can be no possible economic gain for any side. Win or lose, there is nothing but waste and destruction.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Modern warfare results in devastation with no true economic advantages for the sides involved.
Lester B. Pearson highlights the futility of modern warfare, emphasizing that regardless of the outcome—victory or defeat—both sides suffer from immense waste and destruction. This stark reality calls into question the justification for wars fought for economic gain, revealing that the true costs far outweigh any perceived benefits.
Themes
WarfareDestructionEconomyFutilityLoss
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a peace rally to illustrate the costs of war.
More from Lester B. Pearson
All quotes →True there has been more talk of peace since 1945 than, I should think, at any other time in history. At least we hear more and read more about it because man's words, for good or ill, can now so easily reach the millions.
Lester B. PearsonRead
Today the predatory state, or the predatory group of states, with power of total destruction, is no more to be tolerated than the predatory individual.
Lester B. PearsonRead
And I have lived since - as you have - in a period of cold war, during which we have ensured by our achievements in the science and technology of destruction that a third act in this tragedy of war will result in the peace of extinction.
Lester B. PearsonRead
The life of states cannot, any more than the life of individuals, be conditioned by the force and the will of a unit, however powerful, but by the consensus of a group, which must one day include all states.
Lester B. PearsonRead
It would be especially tragic if the people who most cherish ideals of peace, who are most anxious for political cooperation on a wider than national scale, made the mistake of underestimating the pace of economic change in our modern world.
Lester B. PearsonRead
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