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If you want peace...

Posted by ESC on June 05, 2004

In Reply to: Peace posted by ESC on June 05, 2004

: : : Could anyone tell me about their origin in a few words

: : : Great minds think alike
: : : If you want peace, prepare for war
: : : If you cant beat them , join them

: : "If you desire peace then prepare for war" is the distillation of much of Sun Tzu's "Art of War" - another of the great sayings is that 'the greatest general never fights'. Both are paradoxes, but have an essential truth - that weak nations rarely attack strong nations and that a great military strategist can defeat an enemy by arraying his forces is such a fashion that the enemy dare not attack, so that eventually the enemy runs out of supplies and is forced to retreat.
: : Some great generals do not have that opportunity, so being skilled at the art of battle itself is another, but lesser way of showing 'greatness'.

: : There is much literature about manoevering an enemy so that they cannot make war against you. "The Prince" by Niccolo Macchiavelli is another classic of strategy.

: : The idea of Detente is not new.

: GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE -- "Often quoted in jest today, this saying originated in the seventeenth century as the comic-sounding 'Great wits jump.' Daubridgecourt Belchier first recorded the saying in 'Hans Beer-Pot' as 'Good wits doe iumpe (agree).'...The expression 'Great minds jump' appeared in the late 1800s..." From Wise Words and Wives' Tales: The Origins, Meanings and Time-Honored Wisdom of Proverbs and Folk Sayings Olde and New; by Stuart Flexner and Doris Flexner (Avon Books, New York, 1993).

: IF YOU CAN'T LICK (BEAT)THEM, JOIN THEM --"...Another of the 'old' sayings apparently born in this century, this one was first recorded by the American writer Quentin Reynolds in 'The Wounded Don't Cry' : 'There's an old political adage which says 'If you can't lick 'em, jine 'em.' A few years later, Holger Cahill used the alternative form, 'If you can't beat them...' in 'Look South to the Polar Star' ..." From Wise Words and Wives' Tales: The Origins, Meanings and Time-Honored Wisdom of Proverbs and Folk Sayings Olde and New; by Stuart Flexner and Doris Flexner (Avon Books, New York, 1993).

I found a similar phrase:

"Ef you want peace, the thing you've gut tu du
Is jes' to show you're up to fightin', tu."

"The Bigelow Papers" II, 2, James Russell Lowell (1819-1891)

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