As the First World War made painfully clear, when politicians and generals lead nations into war, they almost invariably assume swift victory, and have a remarkably enduring tendency not to foresee problems that, in hindsight, seem obvious.

  • -- Adam Hochschild 亚当·霍克希德

正如第一次世界大战令人痛苦地表明的那样,当政治家和将军们带领国家进入战争时,他们几乎总是假定会迅速取得胜利,而且有一种非常持久的倾向,即不会预见到事后看来显而易见的问题。

相关名言

Nations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed largely for education... no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both.

最近,一些国家被迫借了数十亿美元用于战争;从来没有一个国家在很大程度上借钱用于教育……没有一个国家富裕到既能支付战争又能支付文明的费用。我们必须做出选择;我们不能两者兼得。

I think it's extremely unlikely that the European Union will fracture with nations dropping off the edge.

我认为欧盟不太可能因为一些国家脱离边缘而分裂。

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.

士兵通常赢得战斗;将军们因此而受到赞扬。