Quote of the Day - March 18, 2012

  For an order to be properly carried out, it is necessary for a man to issue an order that is capable of being carried out. But to know what is and isn't capable of being carried out is impossible, not only in the case of Napoleon's campaign against Russia, involving millions, but even in the case of the simplest occurrence, since millions of obstacles can always get in the way of either of these. Every order carried out is always one of many that are not. All the impossible orders fail to engage with the course of events and don't get carried out. It is only the possible ones that do engage with the run of subsequent orders, do correspond with the course of events and do get carried out.

Leo Tolstoy, War & Peace Epilogue, Part II, Chapter 6

War & Peace - Volume II, Part II, Chapter 25, Again

War is not being nice to each other, it's the vilest thing in human life, and we ought to understand that and not play at war. It's a terrible necessity, and we should be strict about it and take it seriously. It comes down to this: no more lying, war means war and it's not a plaything....

And what is war, what is necessary for success on the battlefield, what is the moral basis of a military society? The aim of war is murder, the weapons of war are spying, treachery and the fostering of further treachery, the destruction of people, looting their property and stealing from them to keep the army on the road, falsehood and deceit, which go by the name of clever tactical ploys, and the moral basis of the military class is the curtailment of freedom through discipline, linked with idleness, ignorance, cruelty, debauchery and drunkenness. And in spite of that, its' still the highest class, universally respected.<sup>1



1</sup> Tolstoy, Leo. War & Peace. Anthony Briggs Trans. London: Penguin Books, 2005. p861 First published 1865.

War & Peace - Volume III, Part II, Chapter 25

 Prince Andrey glanced across at Timokhin, who was staring at his commanding officer in alarm and bemusement. In contrast to his commanding officer in alarm and bemusement. In contrast to his former silence and reserve, Prince Andrey now seemed to be all worked up. He seemed unable to stop himself blurting out every thought that came into his head.

 'A battle is won by the side that is absolutely determined to win. Why did we lose the battle of Austerlitz? Our casualties were about the same as those of the French, but we had told ourselves earl in the day that the battle was lost, so it was lost. And we said that because then we had nothing to fight for. We wanted to get off the battlefield as fast as we could. "All is lost! Let's run away!" And run we did. If we had waited till evening before saying that, God knows what might have happened.

 'But we shan't be saying that tomorrow. You talk about our position. The left flank's weak, and the right flank's too spread out," he went on. 'It's all nonsense. Irrelevant. So what is in store for us tomorrow? A hundred million contingent factors, and they'll all be determined by what happens on the day - who's run away and who's going to run away, us or them, who gets killed, one man or another. But what's going on right now is just fooling about. The point is this: those people who took you round the positions don't help things along, they just get in the way. They're completely absorbed in their own petty interests.'

 'At a time like this?' said Pierre, full of reproach.

 'Yes. At a time like this,' repeated Prince Andrey.'They think this is a good time to get one over on a rival and win themselves another cross or ribbon. The way I see it, tomorrow looks like this: a hundred thousand Russians and a hundred thousand Frenchmen have come together to fight, and the fact is these two hundred thousand me will fight, and the side that fights hardest and spares itself least will come out on top. And if you like, I'll tell you something else: whatever happens, however much the top brass messes things up, we shall win tomorrow. Tomorrow, whatever happens, we are going to win!'¹

"I wouldn't mess with that website." -Hanshi Duessel

¹Tolstoy, Leo. War & Peace. Anthony Briggs Trans.  London: Penguin Books, 2005. p858-859 First published 1865.

Quote of the Day - War & Peace

Volume III, Part II, Chapter 17

"As the enemy closed in on Moscow the attitude of the inhabitants to their situation, far from becoming all serious-minded, actually became more frivolous, as always happens with people who can see a terrible danger bearing down on them. At the first approach of danger two voices always speak out with equal force in a man's heart: one tells him very sensibly to consider the exact extent of the danger and any means of avoiding it; the other says even more sensibly that it's too wearisome and agonizing to contemplate the danger, since it is not in a man's power to anticipate future events and avoid the general run of things, so you might as well turn away from the nastiness until it hits you, and dwell on things that are pleasant. Left to himself a man will usually listen to the first voice; out in society he listens to the second one. This is what was now happening to the good people of Moscow. It was years since there had been so much fun in the city." ¹

¹Tolstoy, Leo. War & Peace. Anthony Briggs Trans. Penguin Classics: London, 1868-9/2005.

Nothing is the cause of it.

   When a ripe apple falls, What makes it fall ? Is it gravity , pulling it down to earth ? A Withered stalk ? Drying The action of the sun? Increased weight ? A breath of wind ? Or the boy under the tree who wants to eat it?
Nothing is the cause of it. It is just the coming together of various Necessary Conditions for any living , organic, elemental event to take place. And the botanist who finds That the apple has fallen Because of the onset of decay in its cellular structure, and all the rest of it , will be no more right or wrong Than The boyunder the tree who says the apple fell Because he wanted to eat it and prayed for it to fall.

Leo Tolstoy . War & Peace. Chapter III, Part I, Chapter I.