random thought of the moment:
It is time again to resurrect the wise and marvelous quote from Canon Sydney Smith, the great classical liberal and anti-interventionist in early nineteenth century England. When Lord Grey, the Prime Minister, was moving toward a foreign war, Sydney Smith wrote the following letter to Lady Grey, in 1832: ‘For God’s sake, do not drag me into another war! I am worn down, and worn out, with crusading and defending Europe, and protecting mankind; I must think a little of myself. I am sorry for the Spaniards - I am sorry for the Greeks - I deplore the fate of the Jews; the people of the Sandwich Islands are groaning under the most detestable tyranny; Baghdad is oppressed, I do not like the present state of the Delta; Tibet is not comfortable. Am I to fight for all these people? The world is bursting with sin and sorrow. Am I to be champion of the Decalogue, and to be eternally raising fleets and armies to make all men good and happy? We have just done saving Europe, and I am afraid the consequence will be, that we shall cut each other’s throats. No war, dear Lady Grey! - No eloquence; but apathy, selfishness, common sense, arithmetic! I beseech you, secure Lord Grey’s swords and pistols, as the housekeeper did Don Quixote’s armour. If there is another war, life will not be worth having.’
— , Notes on Iran, Afghanistan, etc.
April 17th, 2005 by Funky Dung
Today is my third official blogaversary. I say official because I actually started blogging some time in November 2001, but my blogging software ate my entries. I salvaged most of them and posted them on April 17, 2002. If you’d like to get an approximate idea idea of what my blog looked like back (when it was called Scribbled Lines), check out this Internet Archive snapshot.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Funky Dung
Popularity: 1% [?]
