There is one fairly good reason for fighting - and that is, if the other man starts it. You see, wars are a great wickedness, perhaps the greatest wickedness of a wicked species. They are so wicked that they must not be allowed. When you can be perfectly certain that the other man started them, then is the time when you might have a sort of duty to stop them.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the moral implications of war and the justification for fighting only in defense.
T. H. White emphasizes the inherent wickedness of warfare, arguing that conflicts should only be engaged in for the purpose of stopping aggression initiated by others. He stresses that wars represent the darkest aspects of humanity, and we have a moral obligation to intervene only when clearly provoked, underlining the futility and destructiveness of violence.
In practice
In a discussion on ethics in international relations, this quote can be used to argue the importance of defensive actions over offensive wars.
Kay was older and bigger than the Wart, so that he was bound to win in the end, but he was more nervous and imaginative. He could imagine the effect of each blow that was aimed at him, and this weakened his defense. Wart was only an infuriated hurricane.
There is a thing called knowledge of the world, which people do not have until they are middle-aged. It is something which cannot be taught to younger people, because it is not logical and does not obey laws which are constant. It has no rules. Only, in the long years which bring women to the middle of life, a sense of balance develops...when she is beginning to hate her used body, she suddenly finds that she can do it. She can go on living.
The destiny of man is to unite, not to divide.
He did not like the grown-ups who talked down to him, but the ones who went on talking in their usual way, leaving him to leap along in their wake, jumping at meanings, guessing, clutching at known words, and chuckling at complicated jokes as they suddenly dawned. He had the glee of the porpoise then, pouring and leaping through strange seas.
...All endeavours which are directed to a purely worldly end...contain within themselves the germs of their own corruption.
Life is too bitter already, without territories and wars and noble feuds
We are called to live our baptism every day, as new creatures, clothed in Christ.
I shall lead you through the loneliness, the solitude you will not understand; but it is my shortcut to your soul.
...It would be more consistent that we call [the Bible] the work of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.
There is no separation between mind and body... Self and other co-arise and fall away all the time.
If there is hope, it lies in the proles.
That which we die for lives as wholly as that which we live for dies.
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