Suppose two men at cards with nothing to wager save their lives. Who has not heard such a tale? A turn of the card. The whole universe for such a player has labored clanking to his moment which will tell if he is to die at that man’s hand or that man at his. What more certain validation of a man’s worth could there be? This enhancement of the game to its ultimate state admits no argument concerning the notion of fate. The selection of one man over another is a preference absolute and irrevocable and it is a dull man indeed who could reckon so profound a decision without agency or significance either one. In such games as have for their stake the annihilation of the defeated the decisions are quite clear. This man holding this particular arrangement of cards in his hand is thereby removed from existence. This is the nature of war, whose stake is at once the game and the authority and the justification. Seen so, war is the truest form of divination. It is the testing of one’s will and the will of another within that larger will which because it binds them is therefore forced to select. War is the ultimate game because war is at last a forcing of the unity of existence. War is god. Cormac McCarthy
About This Quote

In this quote, Nelson Mandela makes a direct connection between games and war. Games, like war, are a testing of wills. In a game of chess, you have to make a move that the opponent will not expect. You have to make a move that is consistent with your values and beliefs.

In a game of poker, the most important thing is not winning but having confidence in yourself and your skills. In a game of poker, you don’t want that battle of wills between you and the other players to be decided by luck alone. In his book War: A Concise History, Charles Townshend notes: "At first sight, war may seem an abnormal and unnatural way to settle disputes and quarrels and to decide differences and quarrels; yet we know it is as old as history." But we also know that there is no more essential part of the definition of war than this: War is force used against another force. It has been noted that war can be described as "a peace between enemies" or as "a peace forced on one side by those on the other." The historian John Keegan states that "War is an act done by men who believe they are right against those who believe they are wrong."

Source: Blood Meridian, Or The Evening Redness In The West

Some Similar Quotes
  1. War is what happens when language fails. - Margaret Atwood
  2. Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. - Ernest Hemingway
  3. The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them. - J.r.r. Tolkien
  4. If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war. - Leo Tolstoy
  5. Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows. - Anonymous
More Quotes By Cormac McCarthy
  1. You have my whole heart. You always did.
  2. People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didn't even know they were there.
  3. He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>The crushing...
  4. Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that. You forget some things, dont you? Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget.
  5. Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave.
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