The most successful war seldom pays for its losses.
Interpretation
Success in conflict often comes at a high cost that may outweigh the benefits.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson suggests that while a war may be won, the losses incurred during the conflict can overshadow any gains achieved. It highlights the idea that the consequences of war—such as loss of life, destruction, and long-term repercussions—often outweigh any temporary victories or successes. The wisdom here is a caution against pursuing conflict recklessly, as the cost of success in war can be devastating and sometimes unjustifiable.
In practice
In a discussion about the implications of military action, you can quote Jefferson to emphasize the high costs of war.
The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them.
I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
We must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements...if we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that, will require unremitting vigilance.
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
Every man who says frankly and fully what he thinks is so far doing a public service. We should be grateful to him for attacking most unsparingly our most cherished opinions.
Logical activity is not the whole of intelligence. One can be intelligent without being particularly logical.
People are slow to claim confidence in undertakings of magnitude.
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
And if you're lucky enough to survive going crazy and get back to the point where you can pass for normal, it builds a question into the rest of your life. You have to forgive people for wondering, 'How all right can he be?'
Character is the essence of all that a man has seen in life and regards as high and exalted. Character is like truth: the substance of the things that a man has forgotten but the substance of the things that are worth remembering in life.
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