The Once and Future King War Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph.)

Quote #1

Mammymammymammy gave place to Antland, Antland Over All, and the stream of orders were discontinued in favour of lectures about war, patriotism or the economic situation. The fruity voice said that their beloved country was being encircled by a horde of filthy Other-nesters—at which the wireless chorus sang:

When Other blood spurts from the knife,
Then everything is fine. (S.13.75-76)

Wart's experience in the ant colony shows the truly ugly nature of human tribalism. Antland is a sort of melding of a communist and fascist society (check out how "Antland, Antland Over All" is a spin on "Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles"). It's always easy to unite the people against a common enemy—especially if you vilify and demonize the Other and make them into something less than human. They're easier to dispose of that way—they're nothing more than an ant underneath your shoe.

Quote #2

A. We are more numerous than they are, therefore we have a right to their mash.

B. They are more numerous than we are, therefore they are wickedly trying to steal our mash. (S.13.81-82)

To the robotic ants, either way war can be justified. The horrific thing that Wart discovers is that humans can be all too antlike in their capacity for war.

Quote #3

"Will you stop about it at once! What a horrible mind you must have! You have no right to say such things. And of course there are sentries. There are the jer-falcons and the peregrines, aren't there: the foxes and the ermines and the humans with their nets? These are natural enemies. But what creature could be so low as to go about in bands, to murder others of its own blood." (S.19.94)

The high-flying geese are the true pacifists in the novel. Lyo-lyok just can't imagine that any species would engage in wholesale slaughter of others of its kind. Their ability to fly so high as not to see boundaries between territories makes them a naturally un-warlike species.