War & Peace Quote by Patricia Sun

“Nothing will ensure war more certainly or entrench rivalries more seriously than for or against thinking!” reads like a warning aimed at the mood of ideological mobilization, not a plea for neutrality. Sun’s punch is in the phrase “for or against thinking!”: she treats “thinking” the way politics treats slogans, as a banner you can join or oppose. The exclamation point matters. It’s not a calm defense of reason; it’s an alarm about how quickly “reason” gets weaponized.

The intent is to expose a paradox: once thinking becomes a team sport, it stops being thinking. Declaring yourself “for thinking” can become a moral badge, a way to preempt critique. Declaring yourself “against thinking” (anti-intellectualism, anti-elite reflex) becomes an identity equally allergic to complexity. In both cases, thought is reduced to a tribal marker, and the actual work of inquiry gets replaced by loyalty tests. That’s where “war” enters, not only literal conflict but the permanent posture of enemies locked into rival camps.

The subtext is a critique of modern culture’s fetish for positions over processes. We build movements around being “pro-science” or “anti-woke,” “free speech absolutist” or “harm reduction,” and then wonder why conversations calcify into rivalries. Sun’s line suggests the real danger isn’t ignorance alone; it’s the righteousness of people who think they’re defending thinking while turning it into a cudgel. When “thinking” becomes a side, everyone else becomes a threat.