How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph.)
Quote #7
"Wars are never fought for one reason […] They are fought for dozens of reasons, in a muddle. It is the same with revolts." (Q.3.6).
If you stop to think about the historical context in which The Once and Future King was written—that is, post WWI and WWII—this idea of a "muddle" makes sense. The reasons for these wars (and for any war, really) are many; they are complicated, overlapping, and difficult (if not impossible) to untangle.
Quote #8
"There is one fairly good reason for fighting—and that is, if the other man starts it. You see, wars are a wickedness, perhaps the greatest wickedness of a wicked species. They are so wicked that they must not be allowed. When you can be perfectly certain that the other man started them, then is the time when you might have a sort of duty to stop him." (Q.4.5).
Merlyn might as well be wearing a sign that says: "T.H. White's Mouthpiece" in blinking red lights. He's talking about the only justifiable war scenario, but still he hedges his bets by describing it as "a sort of duty." He's not even sure that self-defense or protecting others is justification enough to exercise force.
Quote #9
Something of the young man's vision had penetrated to his captains and his soldiers. Something of the new ideal of the Round Table which was to be born in pain, something about doing a hateful and dangerous action for the sake of decency—for they knew the fight was to be fought in blood and death without reward. They would get nothing but the unmarketable conscience of having done what they ought to do in spite of fear—something which wicked people have often debased by calling it glory with too much sentiment, but which is glory all the same. (Q.12.10)
What's being described here is the closest thing to a just war that White, the pacifist, can imagine. Arthur envisions a group of men who aren't going to be rewarded with ransoms (the typical outcome of war), or play around with highly choreographed knightly fighting (tournaments and jousts). Instead, their only reward is knowing that they did something because it was the right thing to do. Turns out this is one of the hardest things to do, period.