There is no mistake; there has been no mistake; and there shall be no mistake.
Duke Of WellingtonRead
Next to a lost battle, nothing is so sad as a battle that has been won.
Interpretation
The sorrow of victory can be greater than the sorrow of defeat, highlighting the cost of conflict.
This quote by the Duke of Wellington reflects on the profound sadness that can accompany a victory in battle, suggesting that the repercussions of winning can be deeply troubling. It implies that a battle fought can lead to loss, destruction, and enduring grief, casting a shadow over the triumph itself and leading one to ponder the true value of victory amidst such sorrow.
In practice
During a speech about the horrors of war, one might use this quote to illustrate the hidden costs of victory.
There is no mistake; there has been no mistake; and there shall be no mistake.
All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavour to find out what you don't know by what you do; that's what I called 'guess what was at the other side of the hill'.
The whole art of war consists in getting at what is on the other side of the hill.
Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.
Next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained.
Be discreet in all things, and so render it unnecessary to be mysterious about any.
Darwin's greatest achievement was to show that the appearance of purpose, planning, teleology (design), and intentionality in the origin and development of human and animal species was entirely an illusion. The illusion could be explained by evolutionary processes that contained no such purpose at all. But the spread of ideas through imitation required the whole apparatus of human consciousness and intentionality
The Resurrection miracle is nothing to you and me if it is only an event of eighteen centuries bygone. Unless we can live the immortal life - unless we can receive God to his own home in these hearts of ours - the texts are nothing to us unless these daily lives illustrate them.
Is discord going to show itself while we are still fighting, is the Jew once again worth less than another? Oh, it is sad, very sad, that once more, for the umpteenth time, the old truth is confirmed: What one Christian does is his own responsibility, what one Jew does is thrown back at all Jews.
Belief is with them mechanical, voluntary: they believe what they are paid for - they swear to that which turns to account. Do you suppose, that after years spent in this manner, they have any feeling left answering to the difference between truth and falsehood?
This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.
At one point, I thought life was about acquiring things. But as a I get older, life is totally about losing everything.
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