“I have known war as few men now living know it. It’s very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes.”
- January 26, 1880 – April 5, 1964
- American
- General of the Army, Military Leader, Supreme Commander in the Pacific Theater during World War II
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Quote
“I have known war as few men now living know it. It’s very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes.”
Explanation
In this quote, MacArthur speaks from the authority of lived experience, having witnessed the devastation of war across multiple major conflicts. His opening words—“I have known war as few men now living know it”—convey not only personal familiarity but also a sense of burden. This is the voice of a seasoned commander who, after years of combat, concludes that the cost of war outweighs its value as a tool for resolving global tensions.
MacArthur’s statement marks a mature and sobering shift from glorifying war to condemning its futility. By pointing out that war harms both “friend and foe,” he underscores its indiscriminate destructiveness—physical, emotional, and moral. His conclusion is unequivocal: war has become “useless” as a method for diplomacy, especially in an age of advanced weapons capable of mass annihilation. It is a call for rethinking conflict resolution in a nuclear world, where the price of escalation is no longer tolerable.
In modern diplomacy and international relations, this quote remains profoundly relevant. Leaders today grapple with the consequences of protracted warfare, from humanitarian crises to global instability. MacArthur’s words serve as a timeless warning: experience should teach us that peace is not the absence of courage, but the highest form of wisdom, and that the pursuit of dialogue over destruction is not weakness, but the only viable path forward in a civilized world.
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