si vis pacem, para bellum

American  

[see-vees pah-suhm-pahr-ah be-luhm] / si vis ˈpɑ səm pɑr ɑ ˈbɛ ləm /

idiom

1. if you want peace, prepare for war: a Latin adage suggesting that a nation should be ready to defend itself as a necessary part of maintaining peace.

---

Example Sentences

This is by no means equivalent merely to the triviality, si vis pacem para bellum, but it is the wide generalization of which that special case is a particular.

From Introduction to the Science of Sociology by Park, Robert Ezra

The Government was resolved, at all risks, to prevent the extreme result foreshadowed by the Treaty of San Stefano, and to do so by acting on the si vis pacem, para bellum principle.

From Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. In Two Volumes. Volume II. by Laughton, John Knox