Every man must be a soldier; every moment may produce a war.

No citizen can lie down secure that he shall not be roused by the alarum-bell, to repel or avenge an injury.

In such petty quarrels Greece squandered the blood which might have purchased for her the permanent empire of the world, and Italy wasted the energy and the abilities which would have enabled her to defend her independence against the Pontiffs and the Caesars.
All this is true: yet there is still a compensation.

Mankind has not derived so much benefit from the empire of Rome as from the city of Athens, nor from the kingdom of France as from the city of Florence.
The violence of party feeling may be an evil; but it calls forth that activity of mind which in some states of society it is desirable to produce at any expense.

Universal soldiership may be an evil; but where every man is a soldier there will be no standing army.