Frederick the Great on the Quakers and War

"I have read your article on war, and trembled. How can a sovereign whose troops are decked out in rough blue uniforms and headgear with white piping, troops that he can order left and right, how can he lead these to glory without earning the honorary title of robber-chief, since he is after all only commanding a gang of ne'er-do-wells forced by fate to become hired butchers, who under his command follow the fine calling of highway robbers? Can you have forgotten that war is a scourge that throws all kinds of men together and, what's more, encourages all manner of crimes? So you can probably see why a man who is even slightly concerned about his reputation, after reading these wise maxims of yours, must avoid all language that we use in referring to the worst criminals ... These are military considerations which escape my lips; I ask philosophy's pardon for this. Up to now I am only half a Quaker; if one day I become like William Penn, I shall do as others do and make public speeches against the privileged murderers who lay waste the earth."

- Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, to Voltaire, Potsdam, 9 October 1773

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