Quote of the day—Winston Churchill

Here was another trading centre, to which high civic rank had been accorded. A like total slaughter and obliteration was inflicted. “No less”, according to Tacitus, “than seventy thousand citizens and allies were slain” in these three cities. “For the barbarians would have no capturing, no selling, nor any kind of traffic usual in war; they would have nothing but killing, by sword, cross, gibbet, or fire.” These grim words show us an inexpiable war like that waged between Carthage and her revolted mercenaries two centuries before. Some high modern authorities think these numbers are exaggerated; but there is no reason why London should not have contained thirty or forty thousand inhabitants, and Cochester and St Albans between them about an equal number. If the butcheries in the countryside are added the estimate of Tacitus may well stand. This is probably the most horrible episode which our Island has known. We see the crude and corrupt beginnings of a higher civilisation blotted out by the ferocious uprising of the native tribes. Still, it is the primary right of men to die and kill for the land the live in, and to punish with exceptional severity all members of their own race who have warmed their hands at the invaders’ hearth.

Winston Churchill
1956
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples: The Birth of Britain
[People like to believe the human race has been “civilized” for some time and mass killings and incredible cruelty are an aberration or an artifact of a particular race or religion. I don’t see it that way. I see “civilization” as a thin veneer which barely contains the true nature of people. I’ve heard people claim the atrocities of the 20th century with many tens of millions of murdered by their government will not happen again because “we have learned better”. I call B.S. on that.

Here we have Winston Churchill claiming, “It is the primary right of men to die and kill for the land they live in, and to punish with exceptional severity all members of their own race who have warmed their hands at the invaders’ hearth.”

This should serve as a stern warning to those who would invade a land and the natives who would aid the invaders. I’m not sure where I read it, it might have been The Good Earth, but it went something to the effect of “If you kill a man’s father he will hate you. If you take his land he will kill you.”

Invaders from whatever distant land, be it another continent or the out of touch politicians in Washington D.C. who view the property of others as plunder should study history. They should not count upon the permanence of the good nature of a society when they plunder their property. There is a threshold beyond which the thin veneer of “civilization” is removed and a terrible, bloodthirsty, barbarian emerges.—Joe]

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9 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Winston Churchill

  1. “Above all things [the prince] must keep his hands off the property of others, because men more quickly forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony.” — Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

    • That probably was what I was thinking about (it was QOTD here. Thank you.

      Although I’m pretty sure there was something in The Good Earth about theft of land as well.

  2. This whole “we’ve learned better” thing is part of the fairy tale mentality of our current President and his supporters. All the various dictators of the world are laughing all the way to the bank. But their victims are not.

  3. “I see “civilization” as a thin veneer which barely contains the true nature of people.”

    You’re right, but be careful what you refer to as the “true nature of people”. A criminal is not born a criminal. He’s made. An Authoritarian (another form of criminal) is not born an authoritarian. He’s made. A jihadist is not born a jihadist, and so on… The innocent child is corrupted by culture, buy his parents, his school, by the world in general. This is what was meant by “…born into tribulation…” No one escapes it entirely.

    And so our foe is that force, or that alliance, which corrupts the innocent, capitalizes on our prejudices, and attacks those who seek the truth. Like a disease, it spreads its aggravation, frustration, hate, and lust for power.

  4. They should not count upon the permanence of the good nature of a society when they plunder their property.

    “Don’t ever mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance, or my kindness for weakness.” — Carson Kolhoff

    Alternatively: “Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde. (Beware the anger of a patient man.)” — Irish proverb

    • Excellent, and don’t mistake my tactical patience for ignorance, tolerance or fear.

      Attention; authoritarians, progressives/communists, common criminals, Republican sell-outs and jihadists! I SEE YOU! Do you see me, you who worship the coercive power of government, and you ignorant who’ve been fooled into thinking you kill for Allah? What you think of as new and wonderful and exciting I see as ancient, boringly predictable, and putrid. You’re The Walking Dead.

  5. “They should not count upon the permanence of the good nature of a society when they plunder their property.”

    I’m reminded of something from the excellent and sorely missed Woodpile Report:

    Middle class America is no less violent than any other people. They seem passive because they’re results oriented. They rise not out of blood frenzy but to solve the otherwise insoluble. Their methods of choice are good will, cooperation, forbearance, negotiation and finally, appeasement, roughly in that order. Only when these fail to end the abuse do they revert to blowback. And they do so irretrievably. Once the course is set and the outcome defined, doubt is put aside. The middle class is known, condemned actually, for carrying out violence with the efficiency of an industrial project where bloody destruction at any scale is not only in play, it’s a metric. Remorse is left for the next generation, they’ll have the leisure for it. We’d like to believe this is merely dark speculation. History says it isn’t.

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