Defence Quotes - Page 11

• The commonplace needs no defence,Dullness is in the critic's eyes,Without a licence life evolvesFrom some dim phase its own surprise;Under these yellow-twinkling elms,Behind these hedges trimly shorn,As in a stable once, so hereIt may be born, it may be born.

  William Plomer

  Eye, Yellow, Needs

  William Plomer (1973). “Collected poems”

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• The academic mind, as we know, is sometimes capable of assuming an aggressive attitude. The official mind, on the contrary, is and has to be, expert in the art of self-defence.

  Ronald Fisher

  Art, Attitude, Self

  Presidential address to the First Indian Statistical Congress, 1938.

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• In order to preserve a balance, while we aren't planning to build a missile defence of our own, as it's very expensive and its efficiency is not quite clear yet, we have to develop offensive strike systems. They [U.S.] should give us all the information about the missile defence, and we will be ready then to provide some information about offensive weapons.

  Vladimir Putin

  Order, Giving, Balance

  "Putin Says Russia Will Build Weapons to Offset Planned US Missile Defences". Associated Press, www.theguardian.com. December 29, 2009.

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• Brave men are a city's strongest tower of defence.

  Alcaeus

  Men, Cities, Brave

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• Having gathered all power to itself, [the State] has become the sole focus of all conflict, and it must construct totalitarian defences to match its total exposure.

  Anthony de Jasay

  Focus, Democracy, Conflict

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• Love is an alchemist that can transmute poison into food--and a spaniel, that prefers even punishment from one hand to caresses from another. But it is in love as in war, we are often more indebted for our success to the weakness of the defence than to the energy of the attack; for mere idleness has ruined more women than passion; vanity more than idleness, and credulity more than either.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Love, War, Passion

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• In defiance of all the tortue, of all the might, of all the malice of the world, the liberal man will ever be rich; for God's providence is his estate, God's wisdom and power are his defence, God's love and favor are his reward, and God's word is his security.

  Isaac Barrow

  Men, World, Favors

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• Virtue is despotic; life, reputation, every earthly good, must be surrendered at her voice. The law may seem hard, but it is the guardian of what it commands; and is the only sure defence of happiness.

  Jane Porter

  Law, Voice, May

  Sir Philip Sidney, Jane Porter (1807). “Aphorisms of Sir Philip Sidney: With Remarks”

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• A man who in the struggles of life has no home to retire to, in fact or in memory, is without life's best rewards and life's best defences.

  J. G. Holland

  Memories, Struggle, Home

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• A ten per cent reduction in military expenditures per year would be reasonable, coupled with a programme of retraining the workforce and redirecting the resources in a manner that creates employment and advances social welfare. I also encourage all States to contribute to the UN's annual Report on Military Expenditures by submitting complete data on national defence budgets.

  Alfred-Maurice de Zayas

  Military, Years, Data

  "UN Expert Urges States to Cut Military Spending and Invest More in Human Development". www.ohchr.org. April 14, 2014.

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• I'm an adult and I know what power means in the modern world. In the modern world, power is mainly defined by such factors as the economy, defence and cultural influence. I believe that in terms of defence, Russia is without any doubt one of the leaders because we are a nuclear power and our nuclear weapons are perhaps the best in the world.

  Vladimir Putin

  Believe, Mean, Russia

  "Putin speaks out on Ukraine, Crimea and US relations with French media". Interview with Gilles Bouleau and Jean-Pierre Elkabbach, www.rt.com. June 5, 2014.

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• Will Great Britain have an unwilling India dragged into war or a willing ally co-operating with her in the prosecution of a defence of true democracy?

  Mahatma Gandhi

  War, Democracy, Allies

  Mahatma Gandhi (1958). “Collected Works”

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• It is Mortifying to suppose it possible that a people able and zealous to contend with the Enemy should be reduced to fold their Arms for want of the means of defence; yet no resources that we know of, ensure us against this event.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Mean, People, Patriotism

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs Corespondence and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson Late, President of the United States: Now First Published the Original Manuscripts”, p.191

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• Sow seed--but let no tyrant reap;
  Find wealth--let no imposter heap;
  Weave robes--let not the idle wear;
  Forge arms--in your defence to bear.

  Percy Bysshe Shelley

  Tyrants, Rights, Arms

  Percy Bysshe Shelley (1874). “The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley; Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments”, p.247

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• Jail-going is only the beginning, not the end of satyagraha. The acme of satyagraha for us would be to lay down our lives for the defence of India's just cause.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Jail, India, Would Be

  Mahatma Gandhi (1982). “Collected Works”

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• What is Americanism? Every one has a different answer. Some people say it is never to submit to the dictation of a King. Others say Americanism is the pride of liberty and the defence of an insult to the flag with their gore. When some half-developed person tramples on that flag, we should be ready to pour out the blood of the nation, they say. But do we not sit in silence when that flag waves over living conditions which should be an insult to all patriotism?

  Anna Howard Shaw

  Kings, War, Pride

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• A speckled cat and a tame hare
  Eat at my hearthstone
  And sleep there;
  And both look up to me alone
  For learning and defence
  As I look up to Providence.

  William Butler Yeats

  Sleep, Cat, Responsibility

  William Butler Yeats, Glenn Harrington (2002). “William Butler Yeats”, p.40, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.

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• It is not our frowning battlements...or the strength our gallant and disciplined army? These are not our reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land... Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Army, Men, Land

  "Lincoln on Democracy" by Abraham Lincoln, G. S. Boritt, Fordham University Press, (p. 128), September 1, 2004.

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• We might as easily reprove the east wind, or the frost, as a political party, whose members, for the most part, could give no account of their position, but stand for the defence of those interests in which they find themselves.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Party, Wind, Giving

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.1502, Delphi Classics

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• An enormous amount of modern ingenuity is expended on finding defences for the indefensible conduct of the powerful. As I have said above, these defences generally exhibit themselves most emphatically in the form of appeals to physical science. And of all the forms in which science, or pseudo-science, has come to the rescue of the rich and stupid, there is none so singular as the singular invention of the theory of races.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Powerful, Stupid, Race

  Gilbert K. Chesterton (2013). “The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton”, p.191, Simon and Schuster

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• Literary men are being employed to praise a big business man personally, as men used to praise a king. They not only find political reasons for the commercial schemes that they have done for some time past they also find moral defences for the commercial schemers... I do resent the whole age of patronage being revived under such absurd patrons; and all poets becoming court poets, under kings that have taken no oath.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Kings, Taken, Past

  "Utopia of Usurers". Book by Gilbert K. Chesterton, pp. 15-17, 1917.

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• War is never lenient but where it is wanton; where men are compelled to fight in self-defence, they must hate and avenge. This may be bad, but it is human nature; it is the clay as it came from the hands of the Potter.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Hate, War, Fighting

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• All ceremonies are in themselves very silly things; but yet, a man of the world should know them. They are the outworks of Mannersand Decency, which would be too often broken in upon, if it were not for that defence, which keeps the enemy at a proper distance.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Distance, Silly, Men

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• A rule that may serve for a statesman, a courtier, or a lovernever make a defence or an apology before you be accused.

  Charles I of England

  Apology, May, Accused

  1636 Letter to Lord Wentworth, 3 Sep.

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• My wealth is health and perfect ease; My conscience clear my chief defence; I neither seek by bribes to please, Nor by deceit to breed offence. Thus do I live; thus will I die. Would all did so well as I!

  Edward Dyer

  Perfect, Deceit, Ease

  1588 'In Praise of a Contented Mind'.

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