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.

To build a theory of international relations on accidents of geography and history is dangerous.

No system of balance functions automatically.

War most often promotes the internal unity of each state involved. The state plagued by internal strife may then, instead of waiting for the accidental attack, seek the war that will bring internal peace.

The best critical consideration of the inherent weakness of a federation of states in which the law of the federation has to be enforced on the states who are its members is contained in the Federalist Papers.

In anarchy there is no automatic harmony .

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