I've been reading some of Niccolo Machiavelli's work. I don't think it was him that had this quote but I remember someone, maybe Sun Tzu who said "A peaceful nation without any weapons is a nation destined to be conquered." Or something along those lines. Does anyone know the exact quote and who said it?

You know I hit a gem while reading Machiavelli's The Prince I came upon this “it is much safer to be feared than loved because ...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.”

I've read a lot of ancient historians books like Livy, Polybius, etc, and I remember Polybius talking about Lucius Aemilanus Paulus Macedonicus, and his conquest over Macedon and Perseus, the son of Philip V, in the 3rd Macedon War.

After Paulus conquered Macedon, he made a statement to the Greeks. He let his men run ravage over Epirus. They killed, raped, pillaged, and enslaved every man, woman, and child in around 70 towns in Epirus. After that Greece would never again revolt against Rome.

Machiavelli quoted Polybius given the quote above. It's interesting seeing the quotes of someone fit with something I've read so long ago, and hearing that quote, I was wondered who Machiavelli was talking about. Good stuff.

No dice. I thought Arfcom would've solved this already.

all i'm getting is this OP


FBHO

Someone will be around shortly. I don't know if it was an ancient historian who said that. I can't put my finger on it.

I get like that all the time. I'm writing some of these quotes down for a socialist who I debate often. He doesn't understand history, yet he reads it frequently. He has the belief that this time, with technology that things will be different once we let government get full country. He actually believes the government is a tool for the people. I LoL'ed him.

FBHO

Oh, so kinda like Nazi Germany under Hitler.  Or USSR under Stalin, or Mao, or Castro.

You know what, great fucking plan.

Every Communist must grasp the truth, 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.'
      -Mao

The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so.
     -Hitler

Never let government get full country.

Not the one you're looking for, but it's my favorite quote

obama

A very good quote.

This is more along the lines of a Country who's willing to give up their arms for the feeling of safety is pretty much fodder for the conqueror (I know that sounds closely to the Benjamin Franklin quote of, giving up liberty for the feeling of safety, but I'm ad libbing here.) I just can't remember where I read it.

Bump for day shift for a possible answer.

"Peace for Our Time." ~ Neville Chamberlain