| Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989. | | | |
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| | | NUMBER: | 784 |
| AUTHOR: | Sir John Cotesworth Slessor (1897–1979) |
| QUOTATION: | It is customary in democratic countries to deplore expenditure on armaments as conflicting with the requirements of the social services. There is a tendency to forget that the most important social service that a government can do for its people is to keep them alive and free. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | SIR JOHN COTESWORTH SLESSOR, marshal of the Royal Air Force, Strategy for the West, chapter 4, p. 75 (1954). |
| SUBJECTS: | Government—purpose of | | |
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