War & Peace Quotes

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

Ernest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part.

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.

We make war that we may live in peace.

The purpose of all wars, is peace.

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

You punch me, I punch back. I do not believe it's good for ones self-respect to be a punching bag.

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.

There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.

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

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Peace begins with a smile.

Wars are caused by undefended wealth.

When you appeal to force, there's one thing you must never do - lose.

When you appeal to force, there's one thing you must never do - lose.

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.

Do not needlessly endanger your lives until I give you the signal.

I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a sense is new-one which I, who have spent so much of my life in the military profession, would have preferred never to use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare.

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

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

If men can develop weapons that are so terrifying as to make the thought of global war include almost a sentence for suicide, you would think that man's intelligence and his comprehension... would include also his ability to find a peaceful solution.

Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.

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

The only defensible war is a war of defense.

I can't think of a better way to spread the message of world peace than by working with the NFL and being part of Super Bowl XXVII.

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

Even peace may be purchased at too high a price.

He that would live in peace and at ease must not speak all he knows or all he sees.

Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!

If I must choose between righteousness and peace, I choose righteousness.

If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War.

My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.

Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.

War - an act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will.

Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.

There will one day spring from the brain of science a machine or force so fearful in its potentialities, so absolutely terrifying, that even man, the fighter, who will dare torture and death in order to inflict torture and death, will be appalled, and so abandon war forever.

Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.

Between two groups of people who want to make inconsistent kinds of worlds, I see no remedy but force.

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

We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.

All war is deception.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be temped to risk his own destruction.

War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.

True pacifism is not unrealistic submission to an evil power...it is rather a courageous confrontation with evil by the power of love, in the faith that it is better to be the recipient of violence than the inflicter of it, since the latter only multiplies the existence of violence and bitterness in the universe, while the former may develop a sense of shame in the opponent, and thereby bring about a transformation and change of heart.

Of course the people dont want war...that is understood. But voice 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.

Everyone's a pacifist between wars. It's like being a vegetarian between meals.

Warmaking doesn't stop warmaking. If it did, our problems would have stopped millennia ago.

To wage a war for a purely moral reason is as absurd as to ravish a woman for a purely moral reason.

War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.

Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side, you automatically help out that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, 'he that is not with me is against me.'"

It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.

Peace is its own reward.

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.

Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.

It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf.

Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.

Gandhi was inevitable. If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived, thought and acted, inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward a world of peace and harmony. We may ignore Gandhi at our own risk.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.

An unjust peace is better than a just war.

As long as war is regarded as wicked it will always have its fascinations. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.

I deplore the need or the use of troops anywhere to get American citizens to obey the orders of constituted courts.

If the United Nations once admits that international disputes can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the foundation of the organization and our best hope of establishing a world order.

Without a doubt, psychological warfare has proven its right to a place of dignity in our military arsenal.

Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.

Take the diplomacy out of war and the thing would fall flat in a week.

I do not want the peace that passeth understanding, I want the understanding that brings peace.

But could not our situation be compared to one of a menacing epidemic? People are unable to view this situation in its true light, for their eyes are blinded by passion. General fear and anxiety create hatred and aggressiveness. The adaptation to warlike aims and activities has corrupted the mentality of man; as a result, intelligent, objective and humane thinking has hardly any effect and is even suspected and persecuted as unpatriotic.

Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!

War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin, keep out of the way 'til you can.

Politics are almost as exciting as war and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.

If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

If we don�t end war, war will end us.

The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.

Rome remained free for four hundred years and Sparta eight hundred, although their citizens were armed all that time; but many other states that have been disarmed have lost their liberties in less than forty years.

War should be the only study of a prince.

Men rise from one ambition to another. First they seek to secure themselves from attack, and then they attack others.

Heroism at command, senseless brutality, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action!

It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.

Some of your countrymen were unable to distinguish between their native dislike for war and the stainless patriotism of those who suffered its scars. But there has been a rethinking and now we can say to you, and say as a nation, thank you for your courage.

Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive. And don't ever apologize for anything.

Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive. And don't ever apologize for anything.

Talk of imminent threat to our national security through the application of external force is pure nonsense. Indeed it is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear.

This does not mean that the enemy is to be allowed to escape. The object is to make him believe that there is a road to safety, and thus prevent his fighting with the courage of despair. After that, you may crush him.

We're in a war, dammit! We're going to have to offend somebody!

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.

War is fear cloaked in courage.

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is brought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?

We cannot be both the world�s leading champion of peace and the world�s leading supplier of arms.

If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.

The urge for destruction is also a creative urge.

There is no such thing as a good war and there is no such thing as a bad peace.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

There are some who've forgotten why we have a military. It's not to promote war; it's to be prepared for peace.

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

Wars are seldom caused by spontaneous hatreds between people, for peoples in general are too ignorant of one another to have grievances and too indifferent to what goes on beyond their borders to plan conquests. They must be urged to the slaughter by politicians who know how to alarm them.

If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is make the rubble bounce.

If you go on with this nuclear arms race, all you are going to do is make the rubble bounce.

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

There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result.

There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result.

Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.

You don't need to be 'straight' to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight.

The whole art of war consists in a well-reasoned and extremely circumspect defensive, followed by rapid and audacious attack.

True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.

There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs.

A tyrant is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.

Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.

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

I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of their way and let them have it.

The only way to win World War III is to prevent it.

If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable; and let it come! I repeat, Sir, let it come!

The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live.

Strength lies not in defense but in attack.

Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. This is the war of the future.

I would rather have peace in the world than be President.

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.

Short-circuiting the long-established principles of patient negotiation leads to war, not peace.

There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult - to begin a war and to end it.

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

A bad peace is even worse than war.

He that fights and runs away, may turn and fight another day; but he that is in battle slain, will never rise to fight again.

It is only necessary to make war with five things: with the maladies of the body, with the ignorances of the mind, with the passions of the body, with the seditions of the city, with the discords of families.

The battle is now joined on many fronts. We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter; and we will not fail.

There is nothing easier than lopping off heads and nothing harder than developing ideas.

War is an art and as such is not susceptible of explanation by fixed formula.

All men are timid on entering any fight. Whether it is the first or the last fight, all of us are timid. Cowards are those who let their timidity get the better of their manhood.

May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't.

I am a soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight.

It is the unconquerable nature of man and not the nature of the weapon he uses that ensures victory.

Either war is obsolete or men are.

Either war is obsolete or men are.