Modern War Quotes

• Only the dead have seen the end of war.

  Plato

  Death, Memorial Day, Plato

  166 Copy quote

• War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

  Bertrand Russell

  Peace, Military, War

  180 Copy quote

• In modern war... you will die like a dog for no good reason.

  Ernest Hemingway

  Dog, Peace, War

  Ernest Hemingway (2008). “The Good Life According to Hemingway”, Ecco

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• To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.

  George Washington

  Inspirational, Leadership, Motivation

  1790 First Annual Address, 8 Jan.

  183 Copy quote

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• They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.

  Ernest Hemingway

  Death, Country, Sweet

  Ernest Hemingway (2014). “By-Line Ernest Hemingway: Selected Articles and Dispatches of Four Decades”, p.189, Simon and Schuster

  19 Copy quote

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• 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

  Inspirational, Funny, Wisdom

  Albert Einstein (2003). “Einstein's 1912 manuscript on the special theory of relativity”, George Braziller

  191 Copy quote

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• A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy.

  Aldous Huxley

  Country, War, Tyrants

  Aldous Huxley (1937). “Ends and Means: An Inquiry Into the Nature of Ideals and Into the Methods Employed for Their Realization”, p.71, Transaction Publishers

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• In war, truth is the first casualty.

  Aeschylus

  Peace, War, Fighting

  137 Copy quote

• There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Peace, Military, War

  "The Prince". Book by Niccolò Machiavelli, 1513.

  35 Copy quote

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• The real trouble with war (modern war) is that it gives no one a chance to kill the right people.

  Ezra Pound

  Peace, Real, War

  Ezra Pound (1970). “A Memoir of Gaudier-Brzeska”, p.140, New Directions Publishing

  52 Copy quote

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• The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting each other - instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals.

  Edward Abbey

  Peace, Real, War

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.18, RosettaBooks

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• The deadliest weapon in the world is a MARINE and his rifle!

  John J. Pershing

  Military, Marine, Rifles

  261 Copy quote

• Know the enemy and know yourself.

  Sun Tzu

  Fear, Military, War

  The Art of War ch. 3 (translation by Yuan Shibang)

  122 Copy quote

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• Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.

  Herbert Hoover

  Death, Peace, War

  111 Copy quote

• If you want to go anywhere in modern war, in the air, on the sea, on the land, you must have command of the air.

  William Halsey

  War, Air, Sea

  49 Copy quote

• Only the dead have seen the end of the war.

  George Santayana

  Military, War, Philosophical

  22 Copy quote

• Our modern states are preparing for war without even knowing the future enemy.

  Alfred Adler

  Peace, War, Knowing

  Alfred Adler (2002). “The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler, Volume 1: Fundamentals of Individual Psychology and Psychotherapy: the Neurotic Character”, p.89, Alfred Adler Institute

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• In modern war there is no such thing as victor and vanquished... There is only a loser, and the loser is mankind.

  U Thant

  War, Loser, Modern

  12 Copy quote

• Don't forget, incoming fire has the right of way.

  Clint Smith

  Military, Gun, Fire

  73 Copy quote

• Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.

  Winston Churchill

  Life, Inspiring, Death

  The Malakand Field Force ch. 10 (1898)

  21 Copy quote

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• All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.

  Ernest Hemingway

  Book, Usa, Literature

  Green Hills of Africa ch. 1 (1935)

  29 Copy quote

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• Modern war and modern civilisation are utterly incompatible...one or the other must go.

  Vera Brittain

  War, Modern, Civilisation

  31 Copy quote

• Our modern wars make many unhappy while they last and none happy when they are over.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  War, Unhappy, Politics

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1963). “Goethe's world view: presented in his reflections and maxims”

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• You must all be aware that modern war is not a mere matter of military operations. It involves the whole strength and all the resources of the nation. Not only soldiers, but also all citizens without exception, take part.

  Chiang Kai-shek

  Military, War, Soldier

  8 Copy quote

• Every modern war has had its roots in exploitation.

  Helen Keller

  War, Roots, Modern

  4 Copy quote