Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts

Lao Tzu

The Way of Life

Translated by Witter Bynner (Thanks to Ken Freeland)

One who would guide a leader of men in the uses of life
Will warn him against the use of arms for conquest.
Weapons often turn upon the wielder,
An army’s harvest is a waste of thorns,
Conscription of a multitude of men
Drains the next year dry.

Lao Tzu: In war man sinks from his higher to his lower nature