Quote of the day–Thucydides

The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.


Thucydides
[When I was young I thought of people who entered the military as not smart enough to get a real job. This was based on a very limited sample of my classmates who joined the military. In the last couple of decades I revised my opinion as I met veterans who were incredibly smart and I read books about and by military people who were great thinkers as well as great warriors.


But I think there is a large segment of our society that does make a great distinction between scholars and warriors and thinks people who join the military are dullards.


I have yet to be convinced that the supposed scholars of our nation are not both cowards and fools.–Joe]

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7 thoughts on “Quote of the day–Thucydides

  1. Ya gotta admit that the results are kind of funny when one of the libs favorite hag-nazis gets away from her handler, though.

  2. There is nothing wrong about joining the military because you need a job after highschool or college or grad school and don’t have any marketable skills. Our country needs the kids who serve because they have the true warrior spirit, but whenever anybody is always making a big deal about his warrior virtues and how much better he is because he served (like Rob at sharp as a marble), they look like Al Gore, John Kerry, Murtha.

    Being a fool isn’t a prerequisite for being a politician, but no one gets far as a politician without being evil and corrupt. It’s much easier to be evil and corrupt if you are a cowardly fool (like John Kerry, Al Gore, Murtha.

  3. Hmm, I will acknowledge that I am not the smartest men on the block, but I didn’t go into the military for lack of finding work. I have found that most civilian employment is boring and except for paying bills and taxes, pointless. At least when I joined the military there were godless communists to kill, since they weren’t selling us stuff, and the Arabs were still getting control of their oil reserves with American and European engineering.

  4. Hmm, I will acknowledge that I am not the smartest men on the block, but I didn’t go into the military for lack of finding work. I have found that most civilian employment is boring and except for paying bills and taxes, pointless. At least when I joined the military there were godless communists to kill, since they weren’t selling us stuff, and the Arabs were still getting control of their oil reserves with American and European engineering.

  5. Joe,

    You’re still smarter than I am, no matter how we slice it. But the military really is a cross slice of Americana,. we have geniuses and idiots, saints and sinners. But we have some very good methods of weeding out those that need weeding out.

    But I’m smart enough to know that you don’t have to be a smart man to be a good man, and a little patience and care will make anyone seem wise. I think it was Louis L’amour who penned, “You can’t stop a man who is in the right and keeps on a coming.” Because like most Rangers, SEALs, or Green Berets will tell you, getting through the training is all about being too dumb to quit.

  6. Try hanging out at the blogs of Neptunus Lex and The Donovan. They’re pretty smart and know lotsa things, and do have the warrior spirit.

  7. Stupid soldiers don’t live very long.

    There was a reason the old Norse saw Odin as the god of both battle and wisdom.

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