With many sovereign states, with no system of law enforceable among them, with each state judging its grievances and ambitions according to the dictates of its own reason or desire - conflict, sometimes leading to war, is bound to occur.

The most important causes of political arrangements and acts are found in the nature and behavior of man.

Asking who won a given war, someone has said, is like asking who won the San Francisco earthquake. That in war there is no victory but only varying degrees of defeat is a proposition that has gained increasing acceptance in the twentieth century.

If we gather more and more data and establish more and more associations, however, we will not finally find that we know something. We will simply end up having more and more data and larger sets of correlations.

No system of balance functions automatically.

The transitory interests of royal houses may be advanced in war; the real interests of all people are furthered by the peace.

External pressure seems to produce internal unity.