WAR QUOTES

quotations about war

War quote

War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.

JIMMY CARTER

Nobel Lecture, December 10, 2002

Tags: Jimmy Carter


It's funny how those who are most pro-war are almost always the guys who never had to fight in one.

JEROME P. CRABB

War Quotes and Quibbles


I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

speech, January 10, 1946

Tags: Dwight D. Eisenhower


War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.

THOMAS MANN

attributed, This I Believe

Tags: Thomas Mann


War is like crack for presidents. It confers instant gravitas, catapulting them to respectability, bypassing all station stops. They get to make macho pronouncements on a topic where every utterance is seen as august.

ANN COULTER

"Lassie, Come Home", Breitbart News, April 12, 2017

Tags: Ann Coulter


Vietnam was the first war ever fought without any censorship. Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.

WILLIAM WESTMORELAND

Time Magazine, April 5, 1982

Tags: William Westmoreland


War: first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to lose; then, one is satisfied that he too is suffering; in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost.

KARL KRAUS

Die Fackel, October 19, 1917

Tags: Karl Kraus


I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but I do know that World War IV will be fought with rocks.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

attributed, Congressional Record, 1968

Tags: Albert Einstein


There never was a good war, or a bad peace.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Poor Richard's Almanac

Tags: Benjamin Franklin


When the rich wage war, it is the poor who die.

JEAN-PAUL SARTRE

The Devil and the Good Lord

Tags: Jean-Paul Sartre


Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks....
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

BOB DYLAN

"Masters of War"

Tags: Bob Dylan


The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.

G. K. CHESTERTON

The New Jerusalem

Tags: G. K. Chesterton


History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

RONALD REAGAN

speech, January 16, 1984

Tags: Ronald Reagan


War is like love, it always finds a way.

BERTOLT BRECHT

Mother Courage and Her Children

Tags: Bertolt Brecht


I think a curse should rest on me -- because I love this war. I know it's smashing and shattering the lives of thousands every moment -- and yet -- I can't help it -- I enjoy every second of it.

WINSTON CHURCHILL

letter to a friend, 1916

Tags: Winston Churchill


All war represents a failure of diplomacy.

TONY BENN

speech, February 28, 1991

Tags: Tony Benn


Wars of pen and ink often lead to wars of cannon and bayonets.

EDWARD COUNSEL

Maxims


War is the trade of kings.

JOHN DRYDEN

King Arthur

Tags: John Dryden


A mind at peace does not engender wars.

SOPHOCLES

Oedipus Rex

Tags: Sophocles


War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading.

THOMAS HARDY

The Dynasts

Tags: Thomas Hardy