Elihu Root quotes

Men do not fail; they give up trying. (Elihu Root)
Honest people, mistakenly believing in the justice of their cause, are led to support injustice. View quote
Elihu Root
To deal with the true causes of war one must begin by recognizing as of prime relevancy to the solution of the problem the familiar fact that civilization is a partial, incomplete, and, to a great extent, superficial modification of barbarism. View quote
Elihu Root
The line of least resistance in the progress of civilization is to make that theoretical postulate real by the continually increasing force of the world's public opinion. View quote
Elihu Root
The growth of modern constitutional government compels for its successful practice the exercise of reason and considerate judgment by the individual citizens who constitute the electorate. View quote
Elihu Root
The limitation upon this mode of promoting peace lies in the fact that it consists in an appeal to the civilized side of man, while war is the product of forces proceeding from man's original savage nature. View quote
Elihu Root
Cruelty to men and to the lower animals as well, which would have passed unnoticed a century ago, now shocks the sensibilities and is regarded as wicked and degrading. View quote
Elihu Root
The wolf always charges the lamb with muddying the stream. View quote
Elihu Root
Nothing is more important in the preservation of peace than to secure among the great mass of the people living under constitutional government a just conception of the rights which their nation has against others and of the duties their nation owes to others. View quote
Elihu Root
It is to be observed that every case of war averted is a gain in general, for it helps to form a habit of peace, and community habits long continued become standards of conduct. View quote
Elihu Root
Prejudice and passion and suspicion are more dangerous than the incitement of self-interest or the most stubborn adherence to real differences of opinion regarding rights. (Elihu Root)
There is so much of good in human nature that men grow to like each other upon better acquaintance, and this points to another way in which we may strive to promote the peace of the world. View quote
Elihu Root
Claims of right and insistence upon obligations may depend upon treaty stipulations, or upon the rules of international law, or upon the sense of natural justice applied to the circumstances of a particular case, or upon disputed facts. View quote
Elihu Root
War was forced upon mankind in his original civil and social condition. View quote
Elihu Root
The point of departure of the process to which we wish to contribute is the fact that war is the natural reaction of human nature in the savage state, while peace is the result of acquired characteristics. View quote
Elihu Root
In the first place, when there is a policy of intentional aggression, inspired by a desire to get possession of the territory or the trade of another country, right or wrong, a pretext is always sought. View quote
Elihu Root
The theoretical postulate of all diplomatic discussion between nations is the assumed willingness of every nation to do justice. View quote
Elihu Root
Human life is held in much higher esteem, and the taking of it, whether in private quarrel or by judicial procedure, is looked upon much more seriously than it was formerly. View quote
Elihu Root
The methods of peace propaganda which aim at establishing peace doctrine by argument and by creating a feeling favorable to peace in general seem to fall short of reaching the springs of human action and of dealing with the causes of the conduct which they seek to modify. View quote
Elihu Root
The attractive idea that we can now have a parliament of man with authority to control the conduct of nations by legislation or an international police force with power to enforce national conformity to rules of right conduct is a counsel of perfection. View quote
Elihu Root
It is not uncommon in modern times to see governments straining every nerve to keep the peace, and the people whom they represent, with patriotic enthusiasm and resentment over real or fancied wrongs, urging them forward to war. (Elihu Root)
Nobody knows through how many thousands of years fighting men have made a place for themselves while the weak and peaceable have gone to the wall. View quote
Elihu Root
Human nature must have come much nearer perfection than it is now, or will be in many generations, to exclude from such a control prejudice, selfishness, ambition, and injustice. View quote
Elihu Root
Gradually, everything that happens in the world is coming to be of interest everywhere in the world, and, gradually, thoughtful men and women everywhere are sitting in judgment upon the conduct of all nations. View quote
Elihu Root
No nation now sets forth to despoil another upon the avowed ground that it desires the spoils. View quote
Elihu Root