Quotes by Christian Lous Lange

About Christian Lous Lange:

Christian Lous Lange was a Norwegian historian, teacher, and political scientist. He was one of the world's foremost exponents of the theory and practice of internationalism.
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The territorial state is such an ancient form of society - here in Europe it dates back thousands of years - that it is now protected by the sanctity of age and the glory of tradition. A strong religious feeling mingles with the respect and the devot...

Christian Lous Lange

All species capable of grasping this fact manage better in the struggle for existence than those which rely upon their own strength alone: the wolf, which hunts in a pack, has a greater chance of survival than the lion, which hunts alone.

Christian Lous Lange

Internationalism on the other hand admits that spiritual achievements have their roots deep in national life; from this national consciousness art and literature derive their character and strength and on it even many of the humanistic sciences are f...

Christian Lous Lange

The theoretically unrestricted right to develop power, to wage war against other states, is antisocial and is doubly dangerous, because the state as a mass entity represents a low moral and intellectual level.

Christian Lous Lange

Just as characteristic, perhaps, is the intellectual interdependence created through the development of the modern media of communication: post, telegraph, telephone, and popular press.

Christian Lous Lange

But teleological considerations can lead no further than to a belief and a hope. They do not give certainty.

Christian Lous Lange

A pacifist will often - at least nowadays - be an internationalist and vice versa. But history shows us that a pacifist need not think internationally.

Christian Lous Lange

History shows us that other highly developed forms of civilization have collapsed. Who knows whether the same fate does not await our own?

Christian Lous Lange

Propaganda must appeal to mankind's better judgment and to the necessary belief in a better future. For this belief, the valley of the shadow of death is but a war station on the road to the blessed summit.

Christian Lous Lange

It is an accepted commonplace in psychology that the spiritual level of people acting as a crowd is far lower than the mean of each individual's intelligence or morality.

Christian Lous Lange

On the contrary. Internationalism also recognizes, by its very name, that nations do exist. It simply limits their scope more than one-sided nationalism does.

Christian Lous Lange

Today we stand on a bridge leading from the territorial state to the world community. Politically, we are still governed by the concept of the territorial state; economically and technically, we live under the auspices of worldwide communications and...

Christian Lous Lange

Concord, solidarity, and mutual help are the most important means of enabling animal species to survive.

Christian Lous Lange

Earlier ages fortified themselves behind the sovereign state, behind protectionism and militarism.

Christian Lous Lange

Hand in hand with nationalist economic isolationism, militarism struggles to maintain the sovereign state against the forward march of internationalism.

Christian Lous Lange

No state is free from militarism, which is inherent in the very concept of the sovereign state. There are merely differences of degree in the militarism of states.

Christian Lous Lange

Militarism is basically a way of thinking, a certain interpretation of the function of the state; this manner of thinking is, moreover, revealed by its outer forms: by armaments and state organization.

Christian Lous Lange

The sovereign state has in our times become a lethal danger to human civilization because technical developments enable it to employ an infinite number and variety of means of destruction.

Christian Lous Lange

It is against this concept of the sovereign state, a state isolated by protectionism and militarism, that internationalism must now engage in decisive battle.

Christian Lous Lange

Modern techniques have torn down state frontiers, both economical and intellectual. The growth of means of transport has created a world market and an opportunity for division of labor embracing all the developed and most of the undeveloped states.

Christian Lous Lange

Author Bio

  • NameChristian Lous Lange
  • DescriptionNorwegian diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize recipient
  • BornSeptember 17, 1869
  • DiedDecember 11, 1938
  • CountryNorway
  • ProfessionHistorian; Political Scientist; Writer
  • AwardsNobel Peace Prize