On the other hand, when Tolstoy responded to an inquirer that, if he saw
a child being attacked by a brutal ruffian, he would not use force to
intervene and protect the child: that, too, is non-resistance fit for
the insane asylum. One of these is just as far from sane, balanced human
morality as the other.

It is a terrible thing to suffer injustice; it is far worse to
perpetrate it. If one had to choose between being victim or tyrant, one
would always choose to be victim: it is safer for the moral life and
there is more recovery afterward. If, however, it is better to suffer
injustice than to perpetrate it, better than either is to resist it,
fight it and, if possible, overthrow it.

It has been said so many times by extreme pacifists that even sane human
beings sometimes take it for granted, that "force never accomplished
anything permanent in human history." It is false, and the reasoning by
which it is supported involves the most sophistical of fallacies. All
depends on who uses the force and the purpose for which it is used. The
force employed by tyranny and injustice accomplishes nothing permanent
in history. Why? Because tyranny and injustice are in their very nature
transient, they are opposed to the moral order of the universe and, in
the end, must pass. On the other hand, the force employed on the part of
liberty and justice has attained most of the ends of civilization we
cherish to-day. The force of the million of mercenaries, collected
through Asia and Africa by Darius and Xerxes, to overwhelm a few Greek
cities, accomplished nothing permanent in history; but the force of the
ten thousand Athenians who fought at Marathon and of the other thousands
at Salamis, saved democracy for Europe and made possible the
civilization of the Occident. The force employed by King Louis of
France to support a tottering throne and continue the exploitation of