To say that war is madness is like saying that sex is madness: true enough, from the standpoint of a stateless eunuch, but merely a provocative epigram for those who must make their arrangements in the world as given.

John Updike
About This Quote

Part of the glamour of war is that it undermines our sense of humanism. It makes us into pawns in the great games of governments and forces us to choose between good and evil. But from a practical point of view, this is a case of "bad logic," which means it is not sound reasoning. Instead, we have to look at war from a practical standpoint.

In fact, war makes sense from a practical standpoint because it creates certain circumstances that one must respond to in order to survive. In other words, one must be prepared to fight if they want to live.

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