MENUQuotes on War
War does not determine who is right - only who is left. Bertrand Russell
Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows. Martin Luther King, Jr.
If we don't end war, war will end us. H. G. Wells
I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in. George McGovern
War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace. Thomas Mann
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. Voltaire
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell. William Tecumseh Sherman
The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations. David Friedman
It seems like such a terrible shame that innocent civilians have to get hurt in wars, otherwise combat would be such a wonderfully healthy way to rid the human race of unneeded trash. Fred Woodworth
War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it. George Orwell
In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies. Winston Churchill
Don't forget what I discovered that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past, present, and future wars. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Wars are not paid for in wartime, the bill comes later. Benjamin Franklin
Force always attracts men of low morality. Albert Einstein
Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy. Henry Kissinger
War is a racket... in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.... something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people... conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes. Brig. General Smedley D. Butler
War is a series of catastrophes which result in victory. Albert Pike
God created war so that Americans would learn geography. Mark Twain
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. Albert Einstein
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy? Mahatma Gandhi
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. Howard Zinn
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron. Dwight D. Eisenhower
A great war leaves the country with three armies - an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of thieves. German Proverb
Nations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed largely for education. Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both. Abraham Flexner
Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them. Pacifist Badge, 1978
We need a new law that owners of SUVs are automatically in the military reserve. Then they can go get their own goddamn oil. Jello Biafra
In war, truth is the first casualty. Aeschylus
Peace is the short interval when nations toil to pay the costs of past and future wars. Herbert V. Prochnow
The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight. A. J. P. Taylor
A rational army would run away. Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu
The failure to dissect the cause of war leaves us open for the next installment. Chris Hedges
War is what happens when language fails. Margaret Atwood
The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without. Dwight D. Eisenhower
I have no doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy... If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago. Sir George Porter
The refuge of the morally, intellectually, artistically and economically bankrupt is war. Martin H. Fischer
The era of true peace on earth will not come as long as a tremendous percentage of your taxes goes to educate men in the trades of slaughter. Reginald Wright Kauffman
We saw the lightning and that was the guns and then we heard the thunder and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped. Harriet Tubman
Dress it as we may, feather it, daub it with gold, huzza it, and sing swaggering songs about it, what is war, nine times out of ten, but murder in uniform? Douglas Jerrold
War is nothing less than a temporary repeal of the principles of virtue. It is a system out of which almost all the virtues are excluded, and in which nearly all the vices are included. Robert Hall
The aim of military training is not just to prepare men for battle, but to make them long for it. Louis Simpson
Organized slaughter, we realize, does not settle a dispute; it merely silences an argument. James Frederick Green
