War Quotes (18)

Wars do not end wars any more than an extraordinarily large conflagration does away with the fire hazard. HENRY FORD, My Life and Work

After a long, hopeless war, people will settle for peace, at almost any price. SALMAN RUSHDIE, preface, The Jaguar Smile

War is a severe doctor; but it sometimes heals grievances. EDWARD COUNSEL, Maxims

My opposition to war is not based upon pacifist or non-resistant principles. It may be that the present state of civilization is such that certain international questions cannot be discussed; it may be that they have to be fought out. But the fighting never settles the question. It only gets the participants around to a frame of mind where they will agree to discuss what they were fighting about. HENRY FORD, My Life and Work

A mind at peace does not engender wars. SOPHOCLES, Oedipus Rex

Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly lost,
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly softly wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world;
For my enemy is dead, a man as divine as myself is dead,
I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin -- I draw near,
Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.
WALT WHITMAN, Reconciliation

Weakness and ambivalence lead to war. GEORGE H.W. BUSH, RNC acceptance speech, August 18, 1988 (Spoken by a psychopath.)

The act of war is the last option of a democracy. JOSEPH C. WILSON, New York Times, Jul. 6, 2003

History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap. RONALD REAGAN, speech, Jan. 16, 1984

With the indiscriminate nature of modern military technology (no such thing as a "smart bomb," it turns out) all wars are wars against civilians, and are therefore inherently immoral. This is true even when a war is considered "just," because it is fought against a tyrant, against an aggressor, to correct a stolen boundary. HOWARD ZINN, Howard Zinn on War

War's one of those things, don't you think, where everyone always thinks they're in the right have you noticed that? Nobody ever says we're the bad guys, we're going to beat shit out of the good guys. CARYL CHURCHILL, A Number

What weak, inglorious fools we mortals are
That war must be, or any need of war.
And yet, the better day is coming when
The teachings of the lowly Nazarene
Shall be the rule of nations--as of men;
The sword and bayonet shall be preserved,
By the fair children of a nobler race,
As relics only, of a barbarous past.
ANDREW DOWNING, "The Bluebird"

Wars of pen and ink often lead to wars of cannon and bayonets. EDWARD COUNSEL, Maxims

Those who ignore history's lessons in the ultimate folly of war are forced to do more than relive them ... they may be forced to die by them. DAN SIMMONS, The Fall of Hyperion

It is interesting ... how weapons reflect the soul of the maker. DON DELILLO, Underworld

If civilization has an opposite, it is war. Of these two things, you have either one, or the other. Not both. URSULA K. LE GUIN, The Left Hand of Darkness

War is behavior with roots in the single cell of the primeval seas. Eat whatever you touch or it will eat you. FRANK HERBERT, Chapterhouse: Dune

I know but little of the customs of war, and wish to know less. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER, The Spy

Military arrangement, and movements in consequence, like the mechanism of a clock, will be imperfectand disordered by the want of a part. GEORGE WASHINGTON, letter to the President of Congress, Dec. 23, 1777

I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars. BARACK OBAMA, The New Yorker, May 31, 2004 (And only dummies would believe you.)

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World of Wars

A War Prayer by Mark Twain. Preachers, profiteers and politicians make war appear to be glorious. This is the text of Mark Twain's powerful illustration and a link to a youtube video version.

War: Who is responsible? by Lawrence M. Vance. Points out that the American government has created a mindset that when a person puts on a military uniform, they are no longer responsible for their actions on the killing fields. This is wrong.

War is a Racket by Major General Smedley Darlington Butler

The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that refuse military service. - Albert Einstein.

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

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." -MATTHEW 5:9

Neither shall they learn war any more. Jewish and Christian Bibles, Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3

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See also Power, Justice and Mercy Quotes