Will and Ariel Durant’s ‘The Lessons Of History’ New York: Simon & Schuster, 1968)

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p. 81 War is one of the constants of history, and has not diminished with civilization or democracy. in the last 3,421 years of recorded history only 268 have seen no war. We have acknowledged war as at present the ultimate form of competition and natural selection in the human species. … Peace is an unstable equilibrium, which can be preserved only by acknowledged supremecy or equal power. … The state has our instincts without restraint.

p. 82 In every century the generals and the rulers (with rare exceptions like Ashoka and Augustus) have smiled at the philosophers’ timid dislike of war. In the military interpretation of the history war is the final arbiter, and is accepted as natural and necessary by all but cowards and simpletons. …. In the present inadequacy of international law and sentiment a nation must be ready at any moment to defend itself; and when its essential interests are involved it must be allowed to use any means it considers necessary to its survival. The Ten Commandments must be silent when self-preservation is at stake.