Skip to content

The steadiness of this country in the war will depend upon our making it clear that the Continent has voluntarily decided to seek its safety in arming.

— Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh

Another quote →

Topics

War

More quotes by Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh

I feel no wrath against the people. I am only doing my duty.

It is not insurrection we now want in Italy, or elsewhere—we want disciplined force, under Sovereigns we can trust.

We shall be found in our Place when actual danger menaces the System of Europe; but this Country cannot, and will not, act upon abstract and speculative Principles of Precaution.

State Paper (1820)

These arguments about natural defences and strategic boundaries are pushed too far. Real defence and security comes from the guarantee which is given by the fact that they cannot touch you without declaring war on all those interested in maintaining things as they are.

Great Britain has perhaps equal Power with any other State to oppose Herself to a practical and intelligible Danger, capable of being brought home to the National Feeling:—When the Territorial Balance of Europe is disturbed, she can interfere with effect, but She is the last Govt. in Europe, which can be expected, or can venture to commit Herself on any Question of an abstract character.

State Paper (1820)

All Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh quotes →

You may also like

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

The last half of the 20th century will seem like a wild party for rich kids, compared to what's coming now.

Hunter S. Thompson

Only the dead have seen the end of war.

George Santayana Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies (1922)

Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.

Ulysses S. Grant Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.