Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Wars are fought by young people on behalf of cowardly leaders who are too scared to fight themselves.
In plain terms
Leaders make young people fight wars so they do not have to fight.
What can you take from it?
War often serves the interests of those who do not fight.

Where it applies

  • warfare
  • political leadership
  • military conscription

Putting it to work

  • question leaders motives
  • protect youth from war

Questions to consider

  • Who benefits from war?
  • Why do leaders avoid fighting themselves?

Another view

Some conflicts may require defense regardless of who initiates them.

More from Emma Goldman

  1. After all, that is what laws are for, to be made and unmade.

    Permalink to quote #46
  2. Anarchism is the only philosophy which brings to man the consciousness of himself; which maintains that God, the State, and society are non-existent, that thei…

    Permalink to quote #48
  3. A society gets all the criminals it deserves.

    Permalink to quote #45

Related quotes

  1. I do not find it easy to send the flower of our youth, our finest young men, into battle.

    Lyndon JohnsonLyndon Johnson quote #5
  2. 'Those who start wars never fight them, and those who fight wars, they never like them.' - Time to Go Home.

    Michael FrantiMichael Franti quote #7
  3. Like its politicians and its war, society has the teenagers it deserves.

    Joseph PriestleyJoseph Priestley quote #7