The phrase arms race, in its original usage, is a competition between two or more parties to have the best armed forces. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation. Nowadays the term is mostly used to describe any competition where there is no absolute goal, only the relative goal of staying ahead of the other competitors, essentially the goal of proving to be "better".
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Famous quotes containing the words arms and/or race:
“Let arms yield to the toga, let the [victor’s] laurel yield to the [orator’s] tongue.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“The great want of our race is perfect educators to train new-born minds, who are infallible teachers of what is right and true.”
—Catherine E. Beecher (1800–1878)