Quotes on War (4)

“The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.” Joe Stalin, comment to Churchill at Potsdam, 1945
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“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
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“During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable, even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism.” Howard Thurman
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“During war, the laws are silent.” Quintus Tullius Cicero. (c.102-43 B.C.), Roman general, brother of Cicero the orator
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“There never was a good war,” said Franklin. “There have indeed been many wars in which a good man must take part, and take part with grave gladness to die if need be, a willing sacrifice, thankful to give life for what is dearer than life, and happy that even by death in war he is serving the cause of peace. But if a war be undertaken for the most righteous end, before the resources of peace have been tried and proved vain to secure it, that war has no defense, it is a national crime.” Charles Eliot Norton
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“Each of the Iraqi children killed by the United States was our child. Each of the prisoners tortured in Abu Ghraib was our comrade. Each of their screams was ours. When they were humiliated, we were humiliated. The U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq - mostly volunteers in a poverty draft from small towns and poor urban neighborhoods - are victims just as much as the Iraqis of the same horrendous process, which asks them to die for a victory that will never be theirs.” Arundhati Roy, “Tide? Or Ivory Snow? Public Power in the Age of Empire”
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“Either man is obsolete or war is. War is the ultimate tool of politics. Political leaders look out only for their own side. Politicians are always realistically maneuvering for the next election. They are obsolete as fundamental problem-solvers.” R. Buckminster Fuller
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“Endless money forms the sinews of war.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.), Roman statesman, philosopher and orator
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“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 Eisenhower
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“Everything, everything in war is barbaric... But the worst barbarity of war is that it forces men collectively to commit acts against which individually they would revolt with their whole being.” Ellen Key
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“Political history is largely an account of mass violence and of the expenditure of vast resources to cope with mythical fears and hopes.” Murray Edelman
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“Democracy don’t rule the world, You’d better get that in your head; This world is ruled by violence, But I guess that’s better left unsaid.” Bob Dylan, American folksinger, b.1941
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“You have to show violence the way it is. If you don’t show it realistically, then that’s immoral and harmful. If you don’t upset people, then that’s obscenity.” Roman Polanski
“For what can war, but endless war, still breed?” John Milton
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“Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.” Abraham Lincoln
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“And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace.” George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, “Caesar and Cleopatra”
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“Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism.” Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President
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“From such beginnings of governments, what could be expected, but a continual system of war and extortion?” Thomas Paine
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“One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.” Agatha Christie
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“George, your reckless and wanton foreign policies killed my son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, in the illegal and unjust war on Iraq. Helping to bring about your political downfall will be the most noble accomplishment of my life, and it will bring justice for my son and the hundreds of other brave Americans and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis your lies have killed.” Cindy Sheehan
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“Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace.” Charles Sumner

More War Quotes:
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25)

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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