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War: a massacre of people who don't know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don't massacre each other.
Paul Valery
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Interpretation

What this quote means

War benefits those who orchestrate it at the cost of innocent lives.

This quote by Paul Valery comments on the paradox of war, emphasizing how it tragically involves the slaughter of individuals who have no personal conflict with each other, all while it enriches and serves the interests of those who instigate it. Valery highlights the cruel irony that the true architects of war often remain untouched and benefit from the chaos, shedding light on the moral implications of conflict and the disconnect between the ordinary soldier and the elite who drive these decisions.

Themes

WarProfitConflictSocietyViolenceIrony

In practice

Example use cases

During a lecture on the consequences of war, one might quote Valery to emphasize the hidden beneficiaries of conflict.

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You have certainly observed the curious fact that a given word which is perfectly clear when you hear it or use it in everyday language, and which does not give rise to any difficulty when it is engaged in the rapid movement of an ordinary sentence becomes magically embarrassing, introduces a strange resistance, frustrates any effort at definition as soon as you take it out of circulation to examine it separately and look for its meaning after taking away its instantaneous function.
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