Civil war.. What did the words mean? Was there any such thing as 'foreign war'? Was not all warfare between men warfare between brothers? Wars could only be defined by their aims. There were no 'foreign' or 'civil' wars, only wars that were just or unjust. Until the great universal concord could be arrived at, warfare, at least when it was the battle between the urgent future and the dragging past, might be unavoidable. How could such a war be condemned? War is not shameful, nor the sword-thrust a stab in the back, except when it serves to kill right and progress, reason, civilization, and truth. When this is war's purpose it maeks no difference whether it is civil or foreign war - it is a crime. Outside the sacred cause for justice, what grounds has one kind of war for denigrating another? By what right does the sword of Washington despise the pike of Camille Desmoulins? Which is the greater - Leonidas fighting the foreign enemy or Timoleon slaying the tyrant who was his brother? One was a defender, the other a liberator. Are we to condemn every resort to arms that takes place within the citadel, without concerning ourselves with its aim? . Victor Hugo
About This Quote

Sometimes we can’t trust people who are close to us. We feel as if they are not always there for us and even though they mean well, we wonder if they want to be there for us or if they are thinking about themselves more than we are. In the past, the idea of civil war was a foreign idea to many people. It meant that two groups who were once part of one nation began fighting each other, which lead to the destruction of the nation.

The bloodshed and death was terrible, but it was fought between brothers, so it wasn’t really considered a war. However, after World War II, civil war became an idea that was more familiar to people. Today, people think of civil war as rebels fighting against their own government.

Around the world, there are rebels fighting against their governments that lead to civil wars. Unfortunately, many of these rebellions are led by terrorists and other extremists who do not truly represent their countrymen. They go against reason and rights for their cause and this is not considered a civil uprising but instead a foreign uprising or occupation.

Source: Les MisaRables

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 Victor Hugo
  1. What Is Love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul

  2. The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Few people dare now to say that two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other. Yet it is in...

  3. The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.

  4. Promise to give me a kiss on my brow when I am dead. --I shall feel it." She dropped her head again on Marius' knees, and her eyelids closed. He thought the poor soul had departed. Eponine remained motionless. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>All at once, at...

  5. You who suffer because you love, love still more. To die of love, is to live by it.

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