Chapter 6 “The Ambassador” (p. 61)

How then to enforce peace? Not by reason, certainly, nor by education. If a man could not look at the fact of peace and the fact of war and choose the former in preference to the latter, what additional argument could persuade him? What could be more eloquent as a condemnation of war than war itself? What tremendous feat of dialectic could carry with it a tenth the power of a single gutted ship with its ghastly cargo?

— Isaac Asimov

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "How then to enforce peace? Not by reason, certainly, nor by education. If a man could not look at the fact of peace and the fact of war and choose the former in preference to the latter, what additional argument could persuade him? What could be more eloquent as a condemnation of war than war itself? What tremendous feat of dialectic could carry with it a tenth the power of a single gutted ship with its ghastly cargo?" in the context of "Chapter 6 “The Ambassador” (p. 61)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Isaac Asimov" (Quotes, Empire novels (1950–1952), The Currents of Space (1952): All page numbers from the Fawcett Crest mass market paperback edition (Catalogue number T1541) ) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Isaac Asimov

About Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov (c. 2 January 1920 – 6 April 1992) was a Russian-born American biochemist who was a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction, his works include the Foundation series and I, Robot.