--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We have engrossed to ourselves, in a time…" description: "\"“We have engrossed to ourselves, in a time when other powerful nations were paralysed by barbarism or internal war, an altogether disproportionate shar..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0a/margaret-macmillan-5907_time_we-have-engrossed-to-ourselves-in-a-time_2223299.jpg" --- # We have engrossed to ourselves, in a time when other… ![“We have engrossed to ourselves, in a time when other powerful nations were paralysed by barbarism or internal war, an altogether disproportionate share of the wealth and traffic of the world. We have got all we want in territory, and our claim to be left in the unmolested enjoyment of vast and…” quote by Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0a/margaret-macmillan-5907_time_we-have-engrossed-to-ourselves-in-a-time_2223299.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0a/margaret-macmillan-5907_time_we-have-engrossed-to-ourselves-in-a-time_2223299.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0a/margaret-macmillan-5907_time_we-have-engrossed-to-ourselves-in-a-time_2223299.jpg) > ““We have engrossed to ourselves, in a time when other powerful nations were paralysed by barbarism or internal war, an altogether disproportionate share of the wealth and traffic of the world. We have got all we want in territory, and our claim to be left in the unmolested enjoyment of vast and splendid possessions, mainly acquired by violence, largely maintained by force, often seems less reasonable to others than to us.”” [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote critiques how a nation can amass wealth and power through violence, while seeing its dominance as justified, despite being viewed as unreasonable by others. **In simple terms:** Power gained by force is seen as rightful by its owners but unfair by others. Key Takeaway Recognize the moral cost of wealth built on domination. Themes imperialism ethics history power colonialism Mood critical reflective Type analytical historical When to use this quote - colonial expansion - global trade - political discourse - education on history Key Concepts realpolitik moral relativism historical analysis Questions to Reflect On - How does wealth built on conquest affect global relations? - Can moral legitimacy be reclaimed after violent acquisition? A Different Perspective The perspective may overlook internal injustices and the agency of colonized peoples. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Acquired Violence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/acquired-violence-2433021/) [Barbarism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/barbarism/) [Nations Paralysed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nations-paralysed-4970987/) [Powerful Nations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/powerful-nations-4504667/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Violence Largely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/violence-largely-448413/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) [Wealth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wealth/) ## Related quotes > [Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-diderot/power-acquired-by-violence-is-only-a-usurpation-and-lasts-only-as/) [Denis Diderot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-diderot/) > [Since violence is largely a male pastime, cultures that empower women tend to move away from the glorification of violence and are less likely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/since-violence-is-largely-a-male-pastime-cultures-that-empower-women/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [“Gun violence touches every class, color, and community, with thirty-three thousand people dying from guns each year—an average of ninety a day. That’s a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-rodham-clinton/gun-violence-touches-every-class-color-and-community-with-thirty/) [Hillary Rodham Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-rodham-clinton/) > [I think there are many experts who say, in fact, the most powerful nations on earth are more vulnerable today than the weaker nations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/queen-noor-of-jordan/i-think-there-are-many-experts-who-say-in-fact-the-most-powerful/) [Queen Noor of Jordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/queen-noor-of-jordan/) > ["Ever since the religion of Islam appeared in the world, the espousers of it...have been as wolves and tigers to all other nations, rending…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wesley/ever-since-the-religion-of-islam-appeared-in-the-world-the-espousers/) [John Wesley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wesley/) > [Many entire nations are marginalised by the more powerful nations. That is causing imbalance, violence and terror. Women must do their best to introduce…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/many-entire-nations-are-marginalised-by-the-more-powerful-nations/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [Turkey has put up a fight against the powerful nations of the world. The crusader mentality attacked us abroad. Inside, their lackeys attacked us.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/recep-tayyip-erdogan/turkey-has-put-up-a-fight-against-the-powerful-nations-of-the-world/) [Recep Tayyip Erdogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/recep-tayyip-erdogan/) > [It doesn't take the most powerful nations on Earth to create the next global conflict. Just the will of a single man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-makarov/it-doesn-t-take-the-most-powerful-nations-on-earth-to-create-the-next/) [Vladimir Makarov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-makarov/) > [As we move toward the millennium, the year 2000, the most powerful nations are not those that have nuclear bombs, but those that control…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spike-lee/as-we-move-toward-the-millennium-the-year-2000-the-most-powerful/) [Spike Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spike-lee/) > [Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can to the humanizing of international relations. Man's capacity for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-william-fulbright/educational-exchange-can-turn-nations-into-people-contributing-as-no/) [J. William Fulbright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-william-fulbright/) > [ \[Much\] as war attracts me and fascinates my mind with its tremendous situations, I feel more deeply every year . . . what vile… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/much-as-war-attracts-me-and-fascinates-my-mind-with-its-tremendous/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Christianity has carried civilization along with it, whithersoever it has gone; and, as if to show that the latter does not depend on physical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/augustus-william-hare/christianity-has-carried-civilization-along-with-it-whithersoever-it/) [Augustus William Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/augustus-william-hare/) > [“Odd, don't you think? I have seen war, and invasions and riots. I have heard of massacres and brutalities beyond imagining, and I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-pears/odd-don-t-you-think-i-have-seen-war-and-invasions-and-riots-i-have/) [Iain Pears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-pears/) > [Liberty is the condition of progress. Without Liberty, there remains only barbarism. Without Liberty, there can be no civilization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/liberty-is-the-condition-of-progress-without-liberty-there-remains/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [ That country \[Carthage\] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws;… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinking-into-the-state-of-barbarism/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) ## More by Margaret MacMillan > [Some might argue humans are hard-wired to fight. I don't agree: we are conscious beings who have the capacity to make decisions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/some-might-argue-humans-are-hard-wired-to-fight-i-don-t-agree-we-are/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [I wish we could see understanding the First World War as a European issue, or even a global one, and not a nationalistic one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/i-wish-we-could-see-understanding-the-first-world-war-as-a-european/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Theodore Roosevelt's policy to build a two-ocean navy confirmed that the old-style isolationism of the founders had not survived the modern, increasingly globalized world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/theodore-roosevelt-s-policy-to-build-a-two-ocean-navy-confirmed-that/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Individual lives remind us that there is something called a common humanity and that, over the centuries, there have been people who have lived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/individual-lives-remind-us-that-there-is-something-called-a-common/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [The 1898 annexation of the Hawaiian Islands merely formally recognized what had long been American domination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/the-1898-annexation-of-the-hawaiian-islands-merely-formally/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [“There are only two perfectly useless things in the world,” he quipped. “One is an appendix and the other is Poincaré!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/there-are-only-two-perfectly-useless-things-in-the-world-he-quipped/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [“Nationalist movements often overlapped with economic and class issues: Rumanian and Ruthenian peasants, for example, challenged their Hungarian and Polish landlords.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/nationalist-movements-often-overlapped-with-economic-and-class-issues/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [How curious that such an outsize man, in physique as well as personality, should be remembered today mainly for giving his name to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/how-curious-that-such-an-outsize-man-in-physique-as-well-as/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [“Part of Nietzsche’s appeal was that it was easy to read a great deal into his work, and people including socialists, vegetarians, feminists, conservatives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/part-of-nietzsche-s-appeal-was-that-it-was-easy-to-read-a-great-deal/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [The Great War was nobody's fault - or everybody's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/the-great-war-was-nobody-s-fault-or-everybody-s/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [If we do not, as historians, write the history of great events as well as the small stories that make up the past, others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/if-we-do-not-as-historians-write-the-history-of-great-events-as-well/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Many in the English-speaking world came to agree with the Germans that the Treaty of Versailles, and the reparations in particular, were unjust, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/many-in-the-english-speaking-world-came-to-agree-with-the-germans/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Women are interested in relationships and how other societies manage those relationships. They may have been constrained in what roles were open to them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/women-are-interested-in-relationships-and-how-other-societies-manage/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [Managing the relationship with a giant neighbour has been central to our foreign policy for more than a century. Trade and investment, as well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/managing-the-relationship-with-a-giant-neighbour-has-been-central-to/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) > [I like to think I'm a recovering historian.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-macmillan/i-like-to-think-i-m-a-recovering-historian/) [Margaret MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) [Explore all 98 Margaret MacMillan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-macmillan/) ## More Barbarism quotes > [ That country \[Carthage\] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws;… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinking-into-the-state-of-barbarism/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [Liberty is the condition of progress. Without Liberty, there remains only barbarism. Without Liberty, there can be no civilization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/liberty-is-the-condition-of-progress-without-liberty-there-remains/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [“Odd, don't you think? I have seen war, and invasions and riots. I have heard of massacres and brutalities beyond imagining, and I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-pears/odd-don-t-you-think-i-have-seen-war-and-invasions-and-riots-i-have/) [Iain Pears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-pears/) > [Christianity has carried civilization along with it, whithersoever it has gone; and, as if to show that the latter does not depend on physical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/augustus-william-hare/christianity-has-carried-civilization-along-with-it-whithersoever-it/) [Augustus William Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/augustus-william-hare/) > [ \[Much\] as war attracts me and fascinates my mind with its tremendous situations, I feel more deeply every year . . . what vile… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/much-as-war-attracts-me-and-fascinates-my-mind-with-its-tremendous/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can to the humanizing of international relations. Man's capacity for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-william-fulbright/educational-exchange-can-turn-nations-into-people-contributing-as-no/) [J. William Fulbright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-william-fulbright/) > [Human history, like all great movements, was cyclical, and returned to the point of beginning. The idea of indefinite progress in a right line…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-bellamy/human-history-like-all-great-movements-was-cyclical-and-returned-to/) [Edward Bellamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-bellamy/) > [You think that a wall as solid as the earth separates civilization from barbarism. I tell you the division is a thread, a sheet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-buchan/you-think-that-a-wall-as-solid-as-the-earth-separates-civilization/) [John Buchan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-buchan/) > [Barbarism is the absence of standards to which appeal can be made.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/barbarism-is-the-absence-of-standards-to-which-appeal-can-be-made/) [Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/) > [“The language of sword is less powerful than the language of word, but most of the people understand the language of sword with greater…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kedar-joshi/the-language-of-sword-is-less-powerful-than-the-language-of-word-but/) [Kedar Joshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kedar-joshi/) > [There is so much that must be done in a civilized barbarism like war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amelia-earhart/there-is-so-much-that-must-be-done-in-a-civilized-barbarism-like-war/) [Amelia Earhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amelia-earhart/) > [There is a barbarism in the American soul, and we must protect some of it by law. To root it out is to endanger…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-pierce/there-is-a-barbarism-in-the-american-soul-and-we-must-protect-some-of/) [Charlie Pierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-pierce/) > [In discussing Barbarism and Christianity I have actually been discussing the Fall of Rome.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/in-discussing-barbarism-and-christianity-i-have-actually-been/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [What we now want is closer contact and better understanding between individuals and communities all over the earth, and the elimination of egoism and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikola-tesla/what-we-now-want-is-closer-contact-and-better-understanding-between/) [Nikola Tesla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikola-tesla/) > [“Magic begins in superstition, and ends in science. ... At every step the history of civilization teaches us how slight and superficial a structure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/magic-begins-in-superstition-and-ends-in-science-at-every-step-the/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) [Browse all 238 Barbarism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/barbarism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“We have engrossed to ourselves, in a time when other powerful nations were paralysed by barbarism or internal war, an altogether disproportionate share of the wealth and traffic of the world. 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