What are armies?

Famous quotes containing the word armies:

“And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)

“Would not some lightning flash of vision sear people’s consciousness into life again? What was the good of stopping the war if armies continued?”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)

“Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labor, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television.”
—Lewis Thomas (b. 1913)