I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king--and of a King of England too, and thin...k foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which, rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take up arms--I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In the two centuries that have passed since 1776, millions upon millions of Americans have worked and taken up arms, when necessar...y, to make [the American] dream a reality. We can be proud of what they have accomplished. Today, we are the world's oldest republic. We are at peace. Our nation and our way of life endure. And we are free.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature; but he is a thinking reed. There is no need for the whole universe to take up arms to c...rush him: a vapor, a drop of water is enough to kill him. But even if the universe were to crush him, man would still be nobler than his slayer, because he knows that he is dying and the advantage the universe has over him. The universe knows nothing of this.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is always easy enough to take up arms, but very difficult to lay them down; the commencement and the termination of war are not... necessarily in the same hands; even a coward may begin, but the end comes only when the victors are willing.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Ambivalence reaches the level of schizophrenia in our treatment of violence among the young. Parents do not encourage violence, bu...t neither do they take up arms against the industries which encourage it. Parents hide their eyes from the books and comics, slasher films, videos and lyrics which form the texture of an adolescent culture. While all successful societies have inhibited instinct, ours encourages it. Or at least we profess ourselves powerless to interfere with it.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is not the cause for which men took up arms that makes a victory more just or less, it is the order that is established when ar...ms have been laid down.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Even though I had let them choose their own socks since babyhood, I was only beginning to learn to trust their adult judgment.. . .... I had a sensation very much like the moment in an airplane when you realize that even if you stop holding the plane up by gripping the arms of your seat until your knuckles show white, the plane will stay up by itself. . . . To detach myself from my children . . . I had to achieve a condition which might be called loving objectivity.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Until the day when, your endurance gone, in this world for you without arms, you catch up in yours the first mangy cur you meet, c...arry it for the time needed for it to love it and you it, then throw it away.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Then I discovered that my son had learned something new. For the first time, he was able to give a proper kiss, puckering up his l...ips and enfolding my face in his arms. "Kees Dada," he said as he bussed me on the nose and cheeks. No amount of gratification at work could have compensated for that moment.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »