Help me find a quote to increase an essay's pretentiousness.

December 19, 2005 7:59 PM

Epigraph Filter: Writing an essay on the reasons for the Iraq invasion, thesis is that Bush and Co. had an aggressively nationalistic / Hobbesian worldview which combined with Democratic Imperialists (Wolfowitz et. al) found conviction post-9/11. Can you think of a relevant quote or poetry excerpt to stick in the beginning?

Been looking at quotes by Thucydides but can't find anything I like. The association between the exact quote and the thesis can be very loose of course, just going for something that has a related theme (eg. War is a matter of choice, or that people fit the facts to suit their worldview rather than adjust their conceptions in response to facts, or whatever seems relevant to you.)

posted by Firas to Law & Government (12 answers total)

I think some segment of Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" might be appropriate.

The Bellman himself they all praised to the skies --
Such a carriage, such ease and such grace!
Such solemnity, too! One could see he was wise,
The moment one looked in his face!


He had bought a large map representing the sea,
Without the least vestige of land:
And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
A map they could all understand.
posted by Sara Anne at 8:41 PM on December 19, 2005

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Yeats, The Second Coming. Nice apocalyptic tie-in to the religious fundie angle, too.
posted by ikkyu2 at 8:50 PM on December 19, 2005

In a monarchy, the king and his family are the country; in a republic it is the common voice of the people. Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press, government, or the empty catch-phrases of politicians. Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide it against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may. If you alone of all the nation shall decide one way, and that way be the right way according to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your country--hold up your head. You have nothing to be ashamed of.

-- Mark Twain


Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.

-- Mark Twain

The loud little handful will shout for war. The pulpit will warily and cautiously protest at first…The great mass of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes, and will try to make out why there should be a war, and they will say earnestly and indignantly: 'It is unjust and dishonorable and there is no need for war.' Then the few will shout even louder…Before long you will see a curious thing: anti-war speakers will be stoned from the platform, and free speech will be strangled by hordes of furious men who still agree with the speakers but dare not admit it...Next, statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.

-- Again with the Mark Twain thing

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it.

-- This Mark Twain guy is really quotable
posted by frogan at 9:34 PM on December 19, 2005

Here's a couple:

Suicide from fear of death.
-- Bismarck's characterization of preventive war

Unfortunately the only reference I can find for this quote is Richard Betts' Foreign Affairs article from January/February 2003.

The English historian Herbert Butterfield has shown us with great brilliance, and so has our own Reinhold Niebuhr, the irony that seems to rest on the relationship between the intentions of statesmen and the results they achieve. I can testify from personal experience that not only can one never know, when one takes a far-reaching decision in foreign policy, precisely what the consequences are going to be, but almost never do these consequences fully coincide with what one intended or expected.

George F. Kennan, "Foreign Policy and Christian Conscience," Atlantic Monthly, May 1959.
posted by russilwvong at 9:45 PM on December 19, 2005

But a stronger power groweth out of your values, and a new surpassing: by it breaketh egg and egg–shell.

And he who hath to be a creator in good and evil—verily, he hath first to be a destroyer, and break values in pieces.

Thus doth the greatest evil pertain to the greatest good: that, however, is the creating good.—

Let us SPEAK thereof, ye wisest ones, even though it be bad. To be silent is worse; all suppressed truths become poisonous.

And let everything break up which—can break up by our truths! Many a house is still to be built!—

Thus spake Zarathustra.
posted by raaka at 9:51 PM on December 19, 2005

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
— Hermann Goering, 18 April 1946 (quoted in Gustave Gilbert's Nuremberg Diary)
posted by rob511 at 11:44 PM on December 19, 2005

It's not my favorite line from Neruda, but it's one I often think of nonetheless:

"Perhaps this war will pass like the others which divided us leaving us dead, killing us along with the killers but the shame of this time puts its burning fingers to our faces. Who will erase the ruthlessness hidden in innocent blood?"
posted by Haruspex at 3:55 AM on December 20, 2005

Why don't you make a quote up exactly like what you want, and attribute it to Anonymous... That dude has said *everything*
posted by Philbo at 5:40 AM on December 20, 2005

If you think that Bush and his advisers have a 'Hobbesian worldview' then you have completely failed to understand Hobbes. But never mind. Why not take your epigraph from Machiavelli?

"The desire to conquer other countries is very natural and normal .. But if men who are not capable of achieving it are bent on undertaking it at all costs, the results can be disastrous." (from Chapter 3 of The Prince, slightly paraphrased but without altering the meaning)

Or, if you want something snappier:

"Wars cannot be avoided, they can only be postponed" (Machiavelli, again)

and leave the reader to decide if you are being ironic or not ..
posted by verstegan at 11:21 AM on December 21, 2005

Hope this doesn't come off as snarky, but are you sure you want to add an epigraph? You don't mention the length of your paper, but in my experience short papers with even a few lines of poetry or prose italicized at the top do feel, well, pretentious.

It's also a distinctly American conceit (or so I was told by a British prof). So there's that.

But, if it seems appropriate for the class/situation, then go for it.
posted by electric_counterpoint at 2:35 PM on December 21, 2005

Response by poster: verstegan, I mean projecting Hobbesian ideas about individuals being in perpetual selfish conflict to states... you know, like, the Realist/neo-realist conception of international relations. I don't really think that calling realism a bit Hobbesian is a controversial position. I just did a quick mention of it though, it wasn't an important part:

Despite being eager backers of Locke’s philosophies for the basis national governance, this sentiment reveals the administration to be Hobbesian in their view of international relations, with each state acting to maximize its own interests and backed only by its own strength. This almost quaint conservatism has traces of American policy that existed before Woodrow Wilson, is of the realist school of thought in international relations and is not, in itself, something that would automatically lead to a decision to wage preemptive war against vague threats.

posted by Firas at 6:58 PM on December 21, 2005

Response by poster: verstegan, I probably would have seriously considered that first Machiavelli quote! I ended up going with ikkyu2's "The best lack all convictions, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity."

electric_counterpoint, I'll admit that the paper is short (2,000 words or so), but it's not that significant a decision in the end, so I just did it :)

rob511, heh, partisan sniper that I am, I ended up working that quote into the piece.

Sara Anne, what's weird is that I wrote a tedious essay on the nature of truth at the end of high school in response to a question that focused on the "What I tell you three times is true" quote. Fancy stumbling across it again, love this part: "Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice: /
That alone should encourage the crew. / Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice: / What I tell you three times is true."

All interesting quotes, I might end up using others I saw above sometime. Thanks all!
posted by Firas at 7:12 PM on December 21, 2005