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
The voice of the people is the voice of humbug.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that the opinions of the majority may often be misguided or insincere.
William Tecumseh Shermanβs quote reflects a skepticism towards public opinion, indicating that what the majority believes is not always truthful or meaningful. It emphasizes the idea that collective viewpoints can often be driven by hypocrisy or superficiality rather than genuine understanding or insight.
In practice
In a debate about social issues, one might use this quote to argue against following popular but flawed opinions.
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.
Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster.
I think I understand what military fame is; to be killed on the field of battle and have your name misspelled in the newspapers.
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.
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.
War is too serious a matter to leave to soldiers.
We havent really paid much attention to thought as a process. we have engaged in thoughts, but we have only paid attention to the content, not to the process.
He was a volatile mixture of confidence and vulnerability. He could deliver extended monologues on professional matters, then promptly stop in his tracks to peer inquisitively into his guest's eyes for signs of boredom or mockery, being intelligent enough to be unable fully to believe in his own claims to significance. He might, in a past life, have been a particularly canny and sharp-tongued royal advisor.
If you have no wounds, how can you know if you're alive?
There is an overabundance of rational reasons to say no to factory-farmed meat: It is the No. 1 cause of global warming, it systematically forces tens of billions of animals to suffer in ways that would be illegal if they were dogs, it is a decisive factor in the development of swine and avian flus, and so on.
There is a danger in monotheism, and it's called idolatry. And we know the prophets of Israel were very, very concerned about idolatry, the worship of a human expression of the divine.
We've had enough." He took back the report and jammed it under his arm. "We've had a bellyful, in fact." "And like everyone who's had enough," said Control as Alleline noisily left the room, "he wants more.
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