An Army is a collection of armed men obliged to obey one man. Every change in the rules which impairs the principle weakens the army.
William Tecumseh ShermanRead
You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote warns of the grave consequences of war and the ignorance that surrounds discussions about it.
William Tecumseh Sherman expresses his profound concern about the impending horrors of war, highlighting how those who discuss it so casually are blind to its tragic implications. He suggests that the people of the South do not comprehend the catastrophic bloodshed that will ensue, labeling their cavalier attitude as folly and a crime against civilization.
Themes
WarIgnoranceConsequencesCivilizationBloodshed
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on military intervention, one might quote Sherman to illustrate the serious implications of war.
More from William Tecumseh Sherman
All quotes →Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster.
William Tecumseh ShermanRead
I think I understand what military fame is; to be killed on the field of battle and have your name misspelled in the newspapers.
William Tecumseh ShermanRead
The young bloods of the South: sons of planters, lawyers about towns, good billiard-players and sportsmen, men who never did any work and never will... They are splendid riders, first-rate shots and utterly reckless. These men must all be killed or employed by us before we can hope for peace.
William Tecumseh ShermanRead
War is too serious a matter to leave to soldiers.
William Tecumseh ShermanRead
War's Legitimate Object Is More Perfect Peace.
William Tecumseh ShermanRead
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
In listening to the narratives of the Congolese, I came to terms with the extent to which their bodies had become battlefields.
Lynn NottageRead
From now on we shall bomb Germany on an ever-increasing scale, month by month, year by year, until the Nazi regime has either been exterminated by us or - better still - torn to pieces by the German people themselves.
Winston ChurchillRead
Having traveled to parts of the world where war has done its usual nasty work on people's lives, I have come to develop a particular hatred for the shape, the look, the sound of the AK-47.
Abigail DisneyRead
Twenty-first century war adds new risks: more and more often there are no front lines, no central command, no rules of engagement - only a chaotic collision of politics, power, faith and bloodlust. Victims are as likely to be civilians as soldiers.
Nancy GibbsRead
So many nurses had turned into emotionally disturbed handmaidens of the war, in their yellow-and-crimson uniforms with bone buttons.
Michael OndaatjeRead