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Full Idea
What is called national prestige consists in behaving always in such a way as to demoralise other nations by giving them the impression that, if it comes to war, one would certainly defeat them.
Gist of Idea
National prestige consists of behaving as if you could beat the others in a war
Source
Simone Weil (The Power of Words [1934], p.244)
Book Ref
Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], p.244
A Reaction
It's true. No nation gains prestige because of the happy lives of its citizens, or the creativity of its culture.
| 23273 | In a good state the goal of the citizens and of the whole state are united [Hegel] |
| 23042 | National spirit only exists in the individuals who embody it [Green,TH, by Muirhead] |
| 23194 | People feel united as a nation by one language, but then want a common ancestry and history [Nietzsche] |
| 23810 | Charity is the only love, and you can feel that for a country (a place with traditions), but not a nation [Weil] |
| 23828 | National prestige consists of behaving as if you could beat the others in a war [Weil] |
| 22816 | Socialists reject nationality as a false source of identity [Miller,D] |
| 21123 | Liberal Nationalism is more communitarian, and Constitutional Patriotism more cosmopolitan [Shorten] |
| 23535 | Western workers turn to nationalism, to avert the effects of globalisation [Berardi] |
| 23130 | Popular imperialism gives the poor the belief that their acts have world historical meaning [Gopnik] |
| 23131 | Patriots love their place, but nationalists have a paranoid ethnic hostility [Gopnik] |
| 22592 | Nationalism pretends that we can only have a single identity [Dunt] |