--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: War has become a luxury that only small…" description: "\"War has become a luxury that only small nations can afford.\" — Hannah Arendt" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1b/hannah-arendt-610_luxury_war-has-become-a-luxury-that-only-small_1626829.jpg" --- # War has become a luxury that only small nations can afford. ![“War has become a luxury that only small nations can afford.” quote by Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1b/hannah-arendt-610_luxury_war-has-become-a-luxury-that-only-small_1626829.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1b/hannah-arendt-610_luxury_war-has-become-a-luxury-that-only-small_1626829.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1b/hannah-arendt-610_luxury_war-has-become-a-luxury-that-only-small_1626829.jpg) > “War has become a luxury that only small nations can afford.” [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. War is now a costly luxury only wealthy, small states can sustain. **In simple terms:** War is expensive and limited to rich nations. Key Takeaway Seek diplomatic solutions over conflict. Themes war economics geopolitics Mood cautious analytical Type political economic When to use this quote - foreign policy - budget planning - military strategy - international negotiations Key Concepts resource allocation statecraft Questions to Reflect On - How do economic constraints shape security? - What alternatives exist for small states? A Different Perspective Small nations may still be compelled to war. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Luxury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/luxury/) [Luxury Small](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/luxury-small-346239/) [Nations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nations/) [Nations Afford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nations-afford-346237/) [Small](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/small/) [Small nations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/small-nations/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) [War Luxury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war-luxury-346238/) ## Related quotes > [With the more endowed nations constrained by their own higher technological capacity for self-destruction as well as by self interest, war may have become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zbigniew-brzezinski/with-the-more-endowed-nations-constrained-by-their-own-higher/) [Zbigniew Brzezinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zbigniew-brzezinski/) > [Across the globe there are girls who will one day lead nations, if only we afford them the chance to choose their own destinies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/across-the-globe-there-are-girls-who-will-one-day-lead-nations-if/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [The question before the advanced nations is not whether they can afford to help the developing nations, but whether they can afford not to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/indira-gandhi/the-question-before-the-advanced-nations-is-not-whether-they-can/) [Indira Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/indira-gandhi/) > [Could he not find in his heart the generosity to acknowledge that there is a small nation that stood alone not for one year…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eamon-de-valera/could-he-not-find-in-his-heart-the-generosity-to-acknowledge-that/) [Eamon de Valera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eamon-de-valera/) > [There are perfectly good independent small nations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-attenborough/there-are-perfectly-good-independent-small-nations/) [David Attenborough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-attenborough/) > [As we have seen, the wireless and the airplane have made the world so small and nations so dependent on each other that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boyd-orr/as-we-have-seen-the-wireless-and-the-airplane-have-made-the-world-so/) [John Boyd Orr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boyd-orr/) > [A small nation can fight a superpower with determination and dedication.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/velupillai-prabhakaran/a-small-nation-can-fight-a-superpower-with-determination-and/) [Velupillai Prabhakaran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/velupillai-prabhakaran/) > [The day of small nations has long passed away. The day of Empires has come.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-chamberlain/the-day-of-small-nations-has-long-passed-away-the-day-of-empires-has/) [Joseph Chamberlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-chamberlain/) > [The studios still had development programs for young people. Because you weren't talking about the budgets of small nations the way you are now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-kidder/the-studios-still-had-development-programs-for-young-people-because/) [Margot Kidder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-kidder/) > [Every Cuban has a house to live in, no matter how meager. That house is provided by government. Every Cuban who gets sick can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-farrakhan/every-cuban-has-a-house-to-live-in-no-matter-how-meager-that-house-is/) [Louis Farrakhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-farrakhan/) > [Small nations are like indecently dressed women. They tempt the evil-minded.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/small-nations-are-like-indecently-dressed-women-they-tempt-the-evil/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Before peace between the nations, we have to find peace inside that small nation which is our own being.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-k-s-iyengar/before-peace-between-the-nations-we-have-to-find-peace-inside-that/) [B.K.S. Iyengar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-k-s-iyengar/) > [Of all the small nations of this earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpass the Scots in their contribution to mankind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/of-all-the-small-nations-of-this-earth-perhaps-only-the-ancient/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [The H-bomb rather favors small nations that doesn't as yet possess it; they feel slightly more free to jostle other nations, having discovered that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-h-bomb-rather-favors-small-nations-that-doesn-t-as-yet-possess-it/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The day of small nations has passed away; the day of Empires has come.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-chamberlain/the-day-of-small-nations-has-passed-away-the-day-of-empires-has-come/) [Joseph Chamberlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-chamberlain/) ## More by Hannah Arendt > [“It means, first, that everything that appears in public can be seen and heard by everybody and has the widest possible publicity. For us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-means-first-that-everything-that-appears-in-public-can-be-seen-and/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/without-being-forgiven-released-from-the-consequences-of-what-we-have/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [What really distinguishes this generation in all countries from earlier generations ... is its determination to act, its joy in action, the assurance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-really-distinguishes-this-generation-in-all-countries-from/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is a more violent world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-practice-of-violence-like-all-action-changes-the-world-but-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Nationalism always preserved this initial intimate loyalty to the government and never quite lost its function of preserving a precarious balance between nation and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/nationalism-always-preserved-this-initial-intimate-loyalty-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [There is all the difference in the world between the criminal's avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedience's taking the law into his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/there-is-all-the-difference-in-the-world-between-the-criminal-s/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“What imperialists actually wanted was expansion of political power without the foundation of the body politic. Imperialist expansion had been touched off by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-imperialists-actually-wanted-was-expansion-of-political-power/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [the greater the bureaucratization of public life, the greater will be the attraction of violence. In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-greater-the-bureaucratization-of-public-life-the-greater-will-be/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/forgiveness-is-the-key-to-action-and-freedom/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Death not merely ends life, it also bestows upon it a silent completeness, snatched from the hazardous flux to which all things human are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/death-not-merely-ends-life-it-also-bestows-upon-it-a-silent/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/only-crime-and-the-criminal-it-is-true-confront-us-with-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all-human-activities-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Totalitarian politics—far from being simply antisemitic or racist or imperialist or communist—use and abuse their own ideological and political elements until the basis of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/totalitarian-politics-far-from-being-simply-antisemitic-or-racist-or/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“It is like the distinction between war and peace: just as war takes place for the sake of peace, thus every kind of activity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-is-like-the-distinction-between-war-and-peace-just-as-war-takes/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Every end in history necessarily contains a new beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/every-end-in-history-necessarily-contains-a-new-beginning/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) [Explore all 405 Hannah Arendt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## More Luxury quotes > [Let us have the luxury of silence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/let-us-have-the-luxury-of-silence/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [I had an idea for a technologically advanced luxury watch. I got involved in digital art and neon painting and put on shows of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giorgio-moroder/i-had-an-idea-for-a-technologically-advanced-luxury-watch-i-got/) [Giorgio Moroder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giorgio-moroder/) > [It's tragic what America has become because there is a great segment of society that now resents luxury and success and achievement by others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-leach/it-s-tragic-what-america-has-become-because-there-is-a-great-segment/) [Robin Leach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-leach/) > [“I've always been after the trappings of great luxury. But all I've got hold of are the trappings of great poverty. I've got hold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-cook/i-ve-always-been-after-the-trappings-of-great-luxury-but-all-i-ve-got/) [Peter Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-cook/) > [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [Is the minor convenience of allowing the present generation the luxury of doubling its energy consumption every 10 years worth the major hazard of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-r-brower/is-the-minor-convenience-of-allowing-the-present-generation-the/) [David R. Brower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-r-brower/) > [Our obsession with material things and lack of self-worth is evident in our need for an abundance of momentary luxuries and must-have amenities that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-i/our-obsession-with-material-things-and-lack-of-self-worth-is-evident/) [T.I](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-i/) > [From my experience, I don't have the luxury to trust anyone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sirivi/from-my-experience-i-don-t-have-the-luxury-to-trust-anyone/) [Sirivi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sirivi/) > [Just as Wall Street needs to break the hold of the bonus culture, which drives risk-taking that is rational for individuals but damaging to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randy-schekman/just-as-wall-street-needs-to-break-the-hold-of-the-bonus-culture/) [Randy Schekman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randy-schekman/) > [It is, of course, a luxury to create art and, on top of this, to insist on expressing one's own artistic opinion. Nothing is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-beckmann/it-is-of-course-a-luxury-to-create-art-and-on-top-of-this-to-insist/) [Max Beckmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-beckmann/) > [“what a luxury to be alone once more,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/what-a-luxury-to-be-alone-once-more/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“There is an inverse relationship between the time spent purchasing luxury items such as cars and clothes and the time spent planning one’s financial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-j-stanley/there-is-an-inverse-relationship-between-the-time-spent-purchasing/) [Thomas J. Stanley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-j-stanley/) > [“Looking out the rain-fogged window at the gray November day, Mary felt almost grateful for the snug warmth of her well-heated chamber. Escape, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-george/looking-out-the-rain-fogged-window-at-the-gray-november-day-mary-felt/) [Margaret George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-george/) > [“In general, poor is polite and rich is rude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-kalantri/in-general-poor-is-polite-and-rich-is-rude/) [Amit Kalantri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-kalantri/) > [In a world where lifelong employment in the same job is a thing of the past, creativity is not a luxury. It is essential…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-robinson/in-a-world-where-lifelong-employment-in-the-same-job-is-a-thing-of/) [Ken Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-robinson/) [Browse all 1,926 Luxury quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/luxury/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "War has become a luxury that only small nations can afford.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Hannah Arendt" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/war-has-become-a-luxury-that-only-small-nations-can-afford/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Luxury" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/war-has-become-a-luxury-that-only-small-nations-can-afford/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1b/hannah-arendt-610_luxury_war-has-become-a-luxury-that-only-small_1626829.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1b/hannah-arendt-610_luxury_war-has-become-a-luxury-that-only-small_1626829.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1b/hannah-arendt-610_luxury_war-has-become-a-luxury-that-only-small_1626829.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“War has become a luxury that only small nations can afford.” — Hannah Arendt", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Hannah Arendt", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "War has become a luxury that...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/war-has-become-a-luxury-that-only-small-nations-can-afford/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/war-has-become-a-luxury-that-only-small-nations-can-afford/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```