We make war that we may live in peace.

The line expresses a teleological (end-directed) view of political action: war is not an ultimate good but an instrumental means ordered toward a higher end—peaceful life. Read in an Aristotelian key, it fits his broader ethical and political framework in which activities are judged by the ends they serve, and the best end for a polis is a stable, virtuous, flourishing life. The sentiment also implies a critique of militarism: if war becomes an end in itself, it inverts proper priorities. In later reception, the phrase is often used to justify “defensive” or “necessary” wars, though Aristotle’s own emphasis is typically on subordinating force to the conditions of a well-ordered civic peace.