War is the climax of human ingenuity, the object of supreme efforts: men slaughtering each other, cities battered into ruins. What is left behind is agony, death and desolation. At the same time, men think very highly of themselves; 'they are wise in their own hearts, shrewd in their own sight' ( Isa.5:21).

A.J, Heschel, The Prophets, JPS, p. 183