Percy Bysshe ShelleyMan has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder.
About This Quote
It is essential to be clear that man has no right to kill his brother. It is not the soldier who kills his brother in battle that is guilty of murder, but the commander who orders him to do it. To kill in cold blood is the worst crime. It may be excused, even if the order comes from on high, if there are extenuating circumstances, but only when all other means of saving society have failed. It is certainly never excusable when an army or a nation is at war with another country; then all brothers are enemies, and it is self-defence that justifies the killing of an enemy.
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