According to other writers, it is the women who last longest in sieges, the young men who soonest fall into that deadly lethargy that precedes actual death. But the account is accurate enough: that is what a siege is like. Moreover, that is what it is meant to be like. When a city is encircled and deprived of food, it is not the expectation of the attackers that the garrison will hold out until individual soldiers... drop dead in the streets. The death of ordinary inhabitants of the city is expected to force the hand of the civilian or military leadership. The goal is surrender; the means is not the defeat of the enemy army, but the fearful spectacle of the civilian dead.

Famous Quotes / Michael Walzer

Authors: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Michael Walzer: "According to other writers, it is the women who last longest in sieges, the young men who soonest fall into that deadly lethargy that precedes actual death. But the account is accurate enough: that is what a siege is like. Moreover, that is what it is meant to be like. When a city is encircled and deprived of food, it is not the expectation of the attackers that the garrison will hold out until individual soldiers... drop dead in the streets. The death of ordinary inhabitants of the city is expected to force the hand of the civilian or military leadership. The goal is surrender; the means is not the defeat of the enemy army, but the fearful spectacle of the civilian dead."

Quotations about

According	Account	Accurate	Actual
Army	Attackers	City	Civilian
Dead	Deadly	Death	Defeat
Deprived	Drop	Encircled	Enemy
Enough	Expectation	Expected	Fall
Fearful	Food	Force	Garrison
Goal	Hand	Hold	Individual
Inhabitants	Into	Last	Leadership
Lethargy	Longest	Means	Meant
Military	Moreover	Ordinary	Other
Precedes	Siege	Sieges	Soldiers
Soonest	Spectacle	Streets	Surrender
Until	Women	Writers	Young

Quotes by Power Quotations

According to other writers, it is the women who last longest in sieges, the young men who soonest fall into that deadly lethargy that precedes actual death. But the account is accurate enough: that is what a siege is like. Moreover, that is what it is meant to be like. When a city is encircled and deprived of food, it is not the expectation of the attackers that the garrison will hold out until individual soldiers... drop dead in the streets. The death of ordinary inhabitants of the city is expected to force the hand of the civilian or military leadership. The goal is surrender; the means is not the defeat of the enemy army, but the fearful spectacle of the civilian dead. - Michael Walzer