Image Library

Quotes about War

AuthorQuoteE-Mail this quote
Bertolt BrechtWar is like love; it always finds a way.
C.E. MontagueWar hath no fury like a noncombatant.
John DrydenWar is a trade of kings.
Will RogersYou can't say civilization don't advance. For every war, they kill you a new way.
Adolf HitlerThere is only one right in the world and that right is one's own strength.
Albert Einstein
(1879 - 1955)
You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.
Albert Einstein
(1879 - 1955)
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
Albert EinsteinIf I had known that the Germans would not succeed in constructing the atom bomb, I would never have lifted a finger.
Albert Einstein
(1879 - 1955)
As long as there are men, there will be wars.
Alcuin of York
(735 - 804)
You should not agree to have anything to do with weapons of war.
Aleks HindinAmateurs talk about tactics. Professionals talk about logistics.
Alfred Hitchcock
(1899 - 1980)
It [the Legion of Honor] is taken rather seriously by those who have recieved it.
Anonymous"Holy war" is an oxymoron.
AnonymousGeorge W. Bush's method of governing: Ready, fire, aim.
Anonymous sign over a chaplains bunker at Con Thien, 1967It’s a small war, God, but it’s the only one we’ve got.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
(1900 - 1944)
If it is true that wars are won by believers, it is also true that peace treaties are sometimes signed by businessmen.
- (aviator and author)
Artemus Ward
(1834 - 1867)
I have given two cousins to war and I stand ready to sacrifice my wife's brother.
Barbara Bush
(1925 - )
War is not nice.
Benjamin FranklinThere never was a good war or a bad peace.
Bertrand RussellWar does not determine who is right, only who is left.
BismarkAfter all, war is, proplerly speaking, the natural condition of humanity.
Butch and SundanceYou do this right and I'll get you an old dog to kick.
- ((a line from the film))
Carl Sandburg
(1878 - 1967)
... Sometime they'll give a war and nobody will come.
Charles IvesAwards are merely the badges of mediocrity.
ClausewitzThe best strategy is always to be very strong.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
(1890 - 1969)
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.
- (U.S. general and 34th president)
Dwight D. EisenhowerThe world in arms is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
Edward Abbey
(1927 - 1989)
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
(1927 - 1989)
Always pull up survey stakes anywhere you find them. -- George Washington Hayduke of The Monkey Wrench Gang
ErasmusDulce bellum inexpertis [War is delightful to those who have no experience of it]
Etienne, Comte de NansoutyHorses have no patriotism; soldiers fight without bread, but horses insist on oats.
FochMy centre gives way, my right is pushed back, situation excellent, I am attacking.
Frederic RaphaelAwards are like hemorrhoids; in the end, every asshole gets one.
Frederick the GreatGod is always with the strongest battalion.
Friedrich NietzscheHow good bad music and bad reasons sound when we march against an enemy.
Gen. David Petraeus
(1952 - )
Tell me how this ends.
- (during invasion of Iraq by U.S. military)
General George Patton
(1885 - 1945)
The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his.
George Bernard ShawNothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill one another if it is not done.
George Orwell
(1903 - 1950)
The quickest way to end a war is to lose it.
George OrwellThe quickest way to end a war is to lose it.
George WallaceWhy does the Air Force need expensive new bombers? Have the people we've been bombing over the years been complaining?
Georges Clemenceau
(1841 - 1929)
War is a series of disasters which result in a winner.
Georges Clemenceau
(1841 - 1929)
War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men.
Georges Clemenceau
(1841 - 1929)
I don't know whether war is an interlude during peace, or peace an interlude during war.
GodDon't make me come down there again.
Goering, HermannVoice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.
- (Nazi Reichsmarschall)
Golda Meir
(1898 - 1978)
We can forgive you for killing our sons. But we will never forgive you for making us kill yours.
- (to Anwar Sadat just before the peace talks)
Golda Meir
(1898 - 1978)
There's no difference between one's killing and making decisions that will send others to kill. It's exactly the same thing, or even worse.
Golda Meir
(1898 - 1978)
I have given instructions that I be informed every time one of our soldiers is killed, even if it is in the middle of the night. When President Nasser leaves instructions that he is to be awakened in the middle of the night if an Egyptian soldier is killed, there will be peace.
Golda Meir
(1898 - 1978)
I don't know why you use a fancy French word like détente when there's a good English phrase for it -- cold war.
Golda Meir
(1898 - 1978)
It is true we have won all our wars, but we have paid for them. We don't want victories anymore.
Golda Meir
(1898 - 1978)
We have always said that in our war with the Arabs we had a secret weapon -- no alternative.
- (Prime Minister, Israel)
Henry David ThoreauWhat is human warfare but just this: an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party.
Howard Zinn
(1922 - )
Wars are always wars against children. In every war, unforgivable numbers of children die.
Jack BennyI don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either.
Jack HandeyI can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world because they'd never expect it.
Jack HandeyI can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world because they'd never expect it.
Jay LenoAs we head to war with Iraq, President Bush wants to make one thing clear: This war is not about oil, it's about gasoline.
Jay Leno
(1950 - )
War continues in Iraq. They're calling it Operation Iraqi Freedom. They were going to call it Operation Iraqi Liberation until they realized that spells "OIL."
Jay LenoThe Bush administration said today there is a lot of support for us to attack Iraq. Exxon, Mobil, Texaco, Chevron, they're all lining up.
Jay Leno
(1950 - )
Scientists say we have five years to reverse global warming, or face serious consequences -- like maybe another Al Gore movie.
Jeannette Rankin
(1880 - 1973)
You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.
Jed Babbin... going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion. You just leave a lot of useless noisy baggage behind.
- (former deputy undersecretary of defense in the first Bush administration)
Jerry Falwell
(1933 - )
I believe that global warming is a myth. And so, therefore, I have no conscience problems at all and I’m going to buy a Suburban next time.
- (Evangelist)
Jerry Falwell
(1933 - 2007)
It is God's planet -- and he's taking care of it. And I don't believe that anything we do will raise or lower the temperature one point.
- (Evangelist)
Jerry Falwell
(1933 - 2007)
The whole global warming thing is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability.
- (Evangelist)
Jimmy CarterWe Americans are proud of our military achievements, and war almost invariably brings instant popularity to the President, who changes in the public perception from a beleaguered civilian administrator to a dynamic commander in chief when our brave young men and women go into combat.
John Dominic CrossanWe always say that victory begets peace, but it never does.
- (Roman Catholic theologian)
Joseph HellerThe enemy is anybody who is going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on.
- (Catch-22)
Joss Whedon
(1964 - )
Always be yourself... unless you suck.
Karl KrausWar is, at first, the hope that we will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that he isn't any better off; and, finally, the surprise at everyone's being worse off.
Leon Trotsky
(1879 - 1940)
You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.
- (born Lev Bronstein)
Luis BunuelNothing would disgust me more, morally, than recieving an Oscar.
Mahatma GandhiAn eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Mahatma GandhiFirst they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
Máiread Corrigan-Maguire
(1944 - )
We don't accept nuclear weapons; we don't accept the fact that we train men and women to kill each other. We want to disarm human hearts and human beings, one by one, country by country and that's a big task.
- (founder of Peace People in Northern Ireland)
Moshe DayanIf we lose this war I shall start another in my wife’s name.
MurphyIf the enemy is in range, so are you!
Napoleon Bonaparte
(1769 - 1821)
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
Napoleon BonaparteNever interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
Niccolo MachiavelliIt is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
NietzscheWar makes the victor stupid and the vanquished vengeful.
Omar Bradley
(1893 - 1981)
The way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts.
Oscar WildeAs long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar; it will cease to be popular.
PattonA piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.
PattonNo poor bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making other bastards dying for their country.
Paul RodriguezSometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography.
PlatoWar does not detemine who is right,it determines who is left.
Plato
(427 BCE - 347 BCE)
Only the dead have seen the end of war.
Prime Minister MontjoyLadies and gentlemen, there is no more profitable course of action, then to go to war with the United States and lose!
- (In, "The Mouse That Roared")
Prince Bernhard of the NetherlandsMy country can never again afford the luxury of another Montgomery success.
Robert E. LeeIt is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it.
Robert E. LeeIt is well that war is so terrible--we shouldn't grow too fond of it.
Robert LyndThe belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.
Ronald Reagan
(1911 - )
My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.
Ronald ReaganWell, I would -- if they realized that we -- again if -- if we led them back to that stalemate only because our retaliatory power, our seconds, or strike at them after our first strike, would be so destructive that they couldn't afford it, that would hold them off.
Russian proverbExternal peace lasts only until the next war.
S. J. PerelmanThis medal [the National Book Award], together with my American Express card, will identify me worldwide -- except at Bloomindale's.
Sir James DewarMinds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open.
Solomon ShortThe only winner in the War of 1812 was Tchaikovsky.
Solomon Short (David Gerrold)The enforcement mechanism for the rules of war is usually more war.
Solomon Short (David Gerrold)As long as war is an alternative, it will always be the answer.
Star TrekWar is only fun when you are winning.
Stephen Millich
(1941 - )
Rap music is irrefutable proof of global warming.
Ted TurnerNuclear war would really set back cable.
Thomas CarlyleWar is a quarrel between two thieves too cowardly to fight their own battle.
UnknownI'm not worried about the bullet with my name on it... just the thousands out there marked 'Occupant.'
UnknownAt home they give you the chair. Here they give you a medal!
- (Spoken from a soldier to an officer during the Zulu War)
unknownJoin the army! Meet new people! Kill them!
UnkownThe best defense against the atom bomb is not to be there when it goes off.
VegetiusLet him who desires war, prepare for peace.
Vincent CanbyWe are drawn to our television sets each April the way we are drawn to the scene of an accident.
- (On the Academy Awards)
Voltaire
(1694 - 1778)
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
- (philosopher)
W. L. GeorgeWars teach us not to love our enemies, but to hate our allies.
W. N. EwerI gave my life for freedom- that I know; For those who bade me fight had told me so.
Walt HaskinsIf we were only considering the social behavior of mankind and of the great apes, we would conclude that the great apes evolved from man.
- (Author )
Walter GoodmanThe idea of all-out nuclear war is unsettling.
Will Rogers
(1879 - 1935)
You can't say that civilization don't advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way.
William WestmorelandThe military don't start wars. Politicians start wars.
Winston ChurchillIf you are going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill
(1874 - 1965)
The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.
Winston ChurchillOne day President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war should be called. I said at once "The Unnecessary War."
Winston Churchill
(1874 - 1965)
A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.
Home Search
Contact us Privacy Statement Disclaimer
Copyright 2001-2020 White Plume Ltd., All rights reserved.