Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no need of change.
H. G. WellsRead
States organized for war will make war as surely as hens will lay eggs.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that nations prepared for conflict are bound to engage in it, just as hens naturally lay eggs.
H. G. Wells emphasizes the inevitability of conflict for states that prioritize military organization and readiness. Just as hens lay eggs without thought or choice, nations that focus on war will inevitably find themselves in conflict, thus highlighting a critical view on militarism and the cycle of violence that arises when societies are organized primarily for war.
Themes
WarConflictMilitaryPreparednessInevitability
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the consequences of militarism, one might reference this quote to underline the dangers of an aggressive foreign policy.
More from H. G. Wells
All quotes →He spares no resource in telling of his dead inventions... Bare verbs he rarely tolerates. He splits infinitives and fills them up with adverbial stuffing. He presses the passing colloquialism into his service. His vast paragraphis sweat and struggle; the
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It [a new world order] needs only that the governments of Britain, the United States, France, Germany, and Russia should get together in order to set up an effective control of currency, credit, production, and distribution – that is to say, an effective ‘dictatorship of prosperity,’ for the whole world. The other sixty odd States would have to join in or accommodate themselves to the over-ruling decisions of these major Powers.
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Things that would have made fame of a less clever man seemed tricks in his hands. It is a mistake to do things too easily.
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But I was too restless to watch long; I'm too Occidental for a long vigil. I could work at a problem for years, but to wait inactive for twenty-four hours - that's another matter.
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The greatest task of democracy, its ritual and feast - is choice.
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