[Oztrich Boy]

One of their favorite quotations is: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” ...What they never mention is that the man who made that sneering remark was a fat, gluttonous slob who was pursued all his life by a pathological fear of death.

RAH is quite unfair to Dr. Johnson.

Actually “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel” is one of the all-time two most misconstrued phrases. The other is Asimov's favorite "Violence is the last resort of the incompetent"

Think about the literal meaning of the words used.

"Only the incompetent wait until the last extremity to use force, and by then, it is usually too late to use anything, even prayer." - H. Beam Piper

[Sherman Logan]

Incompetent people are likely to be just as incompetent at violence as at everything else.