For what are the triumphs of war, planned by ambition, executed by violence, and consummated by devastation? The means are the sacrifice of many, the end, the bloated aggrandizement of the few.

Wars of opinion, as they have been the most destructive, are also the most disgraceful of conflicts.

Wars are to the body politic, what drams are to the individual. There are times when they may prevent a sudden death, but if frequently resorted to, or long persisted in, they heighten the energies only to hasten the dissolution.

Men will wrangle for religion, write for it, fight for it, die for it; anything but live for it.