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Now what I desire to know is this: If we want to shoot a man and he badly wants to shoot us, why should we not take his property (if we can) as well as his life? Isn't that the way men win a 'fatherland' first? Don't they fight and conquer the original owners and then take the land? Very well then, what is the good of being a soldier, of risking your life, and being a brave man in battle, if you cannot sieze from your beaten enemy, what your greater valor wins and what you stand badly in need of?
— Arthur Desmond
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Now what I desire to know is this: If we want to shoot a man and he badly wants to shoot us, why should we not take his property (if we can) as well as his life? Isn't that the way men win a 'fatherland' first? Don't they fight and conquer the original owners and then take the land? Very well then, what is the good of being a soldier, of risking your life, and being a brave man in battle, if you cannot sieze from your beaten enemy, what your greater valor wins and what you stand badly in need of?" in the context of "" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source:
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
About Arthur Desmond
Arthur Desmond (c. 1859 – 26 January 1929) was an English revolutionary, poet, philosopher and author, most famous for being the likely author of the incendiary work Might is Right.
About Arthur Desmond
Arthur Desmond (c. 1859 – 26 January 1929) was an English revolutionary, poet, philosopher and author, most famous for being the likely author of the incendiary work Might is Right.
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