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
If you've gotta think about being cool, you ain't cool.
To argue about justice is unavoidably to argue about virtues, about substantive moral and even spiritual questions.
There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents.
At times to be silent is to lie. You will win because you have enough brute force. But you will not convince. For to convince you need to persuade. And in order to persuade you would need what you lack: Reason and Right
If a man or woman is born ten years sooner or later, their whole aspect and performance shall be different.
Birds and animals probably think without knowing that they think; that is, they have not self-consciousness. Only man seems to be endowed with this faculty; he alone develops disinterested intelligence, intelligence that is not primarily concerned with his own safety and well-being but that looks abroad upon things.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.