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WAR, n. A by-product of the arts of peace. The most menacing political… — The Devil's Dictionary

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SAPIR 861

The Devil's Dictionary — Ambrose Bierce

WAR, n. A by-product of the arts of peace. The most menacing political condition is a period of international amity. The student of history who has not been taught to expect the unexpected may justly boast himself inaccessible to the light. "In time of peace prepare for war" has a deeper meaning than is commonly discerned; it means, not merely that all things earthly have an end--that change is the one immutable and eternal law--but that the soil of peace is thickly sown with the seeds of war and singularly suited to their germination and growth. It was when Kubla Khan had decreed his "stately pleasure dome"--when, that is to say, there were peace and fat feasting in Xanadu--that he

Place: ¶1714
License: Public domain · Source
The text is given as in the edition, unedited.

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