"No-war is not a material matter. There are higher realities to which it is subject. When two civilised peoples confront one another, there is more in the scales than explosives and steel. All that either holds of any weight is in the balance. Values are tested in comparison with which the brutality of the means must-to any one who has the power to judge-appear insignificant. A strength of will, all-embracing and concentrated to the last pitch in the highest untamed expression of life asserting itself even in its own annihilation, is brought into play. The stake rises with the frightfulness of the battlefield on which it has to be upheld."[Preface excerpt]