Elihu Root Quotes & Sayings (Page 3)

“The mere assemblage of peace loving people to interchange convincing reasons for their common faith, mere exhortation and argument to the public in favor of peace in general fall short of the mark.”

“The methods of peace propaganda which aim at establishing peace doctrine by argument and by creating a feeling favorable to peace in general seem to fall short of reaching the springs of human action and of dealing with the causes of the conduct which they seek to modify.”

“It is to be observed that every case of war averted is a gain in general, for it helps to form a habit of peace, and community habits long continued become standards of conduct.”

“Nobody knows through how many thousands of years fighting men have made a place for themselves while the weak and peaceable have gone to the wall.”

“Secretary of War Stanton used to get out of patience with Lincoln because he was all the time pardoning men who ought to be shot.”

“No nation now sets forth to despoil another upon the avowed ground that it desires the spoils.”

“War was forced upon mankind in his original civil and social condition.”

“The line of least resistance in the progress of civilization is to make that theoretical postulate real by the continually increasing force of the world's public opinion.”

“The popular tendency is to listen approvingly to the most extreme statements and claims of politicians and orators who seek popularity by declaring their own country right in everything and other countries wrong in everything.”