War Quotes

• There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Peace, Military, Thoughtful

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• Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich.

  Peter Ustinov

  Peace, Money, Ubuntu

  "Achtung! Vorurteile". Book by Peter Ustinov, February 10, 2003.

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• We have guided missiles and misguided men.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Peace, Science, Men

  Strength to Love ch. 7 (1963)

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• I cease not to advocate peace; even though unjust it is better than the most just war.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Peace, Unjust, Cease

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• I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Mother, Children, Hate

  Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1938). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1936, Volume 5”, p.289, Best Books on

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  There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.

  Howard Zinn

  Peace, Patriotic, Innocent Person

  Howard Zinn (1993). “Failure to Quit: Reflections of an Optimistic Historian”, p.118, South End Press

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• Every government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck.

  Guy de Maupassant

  Peace, Government, Captains

  "On the Water". Short story by Guy de Maupassant, 1888.

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• You never need an argument against the use of violence, you need an argument for it.

  Noam Chomsky

  Peace, Needs, Use

  "Viewpoint: War would be insane" by Noam Chomsky, news.bbc.co.uk. February 12, 2003.

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• I met someone from the German side and we both shared the same opinion: we fought, we finished and we were friends... It wasn't worth it.

  Harry Patch

  Fighting, Soldier, Germany

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• War is the ultimate tool of politics.

  R. Buckminster Fuller

  Peace, Tools, Ultimate

  R. Buckminster Fuller “Utopia or Oblivion: The Prospects for Humanity”, Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller

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  I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them.

  Clara Barton

  Military, Nursing, Fighting

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• The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants.

  Albert Camus

  Peace, Tyrants, People

  Albert Camus (2012). “Resistance, Rebellion, and Death: Essays”, p.101, Vintage

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• The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.

  George Orwell

  Peace, Military, Fighting

  Polemic May 1946 "Second Thoughts on James Burnham"

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• In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.

  Winston Churchill

  Time, Peace, Truth

  Discussion of Operation Overlord with Stalin at the Teheran Conference November 30, 1943; in Winston Churchill: The Second World War, Volume V : Closing the Ring (1952), Chapter 21 (Teheran: The Crux), p. 338.

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• You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Wisdom, Art, Military

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• All war represents a failure of diplomacy.

  Tony Benn

  Failure, Diplomats, Diplomacy

  Tony Benn's Speech in House of Commons, hansard.millbanksystems.com. February 28, 1991.

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• For what can war, but endless war, still breed?

  John Milton

  Endless, Stills, Anti War

  'On the Lord General Fairfax at the Siege of Colchester' (written 1648, published 1694)

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• A bad peace is even worse than war.

  Tacitus

  Peace, Ubuntu, Rome

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• In war, truth is the first casualty.

  Aeschylus

  Peace, Fighting, Historical

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• Laws are silent in time of war.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Philosophical, Law, Conflict

  Pro Milone ch. 11

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• Of the tyrant, spies and informers are the principal instruments. War is his favorite occupation, for the sake of engrossing the attention of the people, and making himself necessary to them as their leader.

  Aristotle

  Tyrants, People, Leader

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• Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out... and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel.... And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for the universal brotherhood of man with his mouth.

  Mark Twain

  Peace, Passion, Animal

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• The savage in man is never quite eradicated.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Men, Lakes, Sea

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Quotable Thoreau: An A to Z Glossary of Inspiring Quotations from Henry David Thoreau”, p.85, BookBaby

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• The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  People, Affection, Fortresses

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

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• We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.

  Jimmy Carter

  Veterans Day, Peace, Children

  Mattie J.T. Stepanek, Jimmy Carter (2009). “Just Peace: A Message of Hope”, p.158, Andrews McMeel Publishing

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