Anonymous
War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
Anonymous
When war enters a country
It produces lies like sand.
Ardrey Robert
Human war has been the most successful of all our cultural traditions.
Aristotle 384-322 BC
Nicomachean Ethics
We make war that we may live in peace.
Atkinson Brooks 1894-1984
Once around the Sun
After each war there is a little less democracy to save.
Auden W. H. 1907-1973
‘The Unknown Citizen’
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace; when there
was war, he went.
Baldwin Stanley 1867-1947
War would end if the dead could return.
Berrigan Daniel 1921-
There are no makers of peace because the making of peace is at
least as costly as the making of war - at least as exigent.
Bevin Ernest 1881-1951
There never has been a war yet which, if the facts had been put calmly before the ordinary folk, could not have been prevented ... The common man, I think, is the great protection against war.
Bismarck Prince Otto von 1815-1898
If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of
some damned silly thing in the Balkans.
Bosquet Pierre 1810-1861
(of the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava)
It is magnificent, but it is not war.
Brecht Bertholt 1898-1956
Mother Courage
Peace is nothing but slovenliness, only war creates order.
Brecht Bertholt 1898-1956
Mother Courage
War is like love. It always finds a way.
Carter Boake
In time of war the first casualty is truth.
Chesterton G. K. 1874-1936
‘Lepanto’
Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,
Don John of Austria is going to the war.
Christie Dame Agatha 1890-1976
An Autobiography
War settles nothing ... to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one!
Churchill Sir Winston 1874-1965
Their Finest Hour
No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it.
Churchill Sir Winston 1874-1965
To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.
Churchill Sir Winston 1874-1965
Politics is more dangerous than war, for in war you are only killed once.
Churchill Sir Winston 1874-1965
In war, as in life, it is often necessary, when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.
Churchill Sir Winston 1874-1965
War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.
Ciardi John 1916-
Boys are the cash of war. Whoever said: we’re not
free spenders - doesn’t know our like.
Clausewitz Karl von 1780-1831
Vom Kriege
War is nothing but a continuation of politics
with the admixture of other means.
Clemenceau Georges 1841-1929
(attributed)
War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men.
Clemenceau Georges 1841-1929
It is easier to make war than to make peace.
Clemenceau Georges 1841-1929
War is a series of catastrophes which result in victory.
Coleridge Samuel Taylor 1772-1834
‘Kubla Khan’
And ‘mid this tumult kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesyind war!
Cousins Norman 1915-1990
The possibility of war increases in direct proportion
to the effectiveness of the instruments of war.
Cowper William 1731-1800
The Task
But war’s a game, which, were their subjects wise,
Kings would not play at.
Davidson John 1857-1909
‘War Song’
And blood in torrents pour
In vain - always in vain,
For war breeds war again.
De Gaulle Charles 1890-1970
France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war!
Dryden John 1631-1700
Alexander’s Feast
War, he sung, is toil and trouble;
Honour but an empty bubble.
Dryden John 1631-1700
King Arthur
War is the trade of kings.
Dryden John 1631-1700
Tyrannic Love
All delays are dangerous in war.
Dulles John Foster 1888-1959
You have to take chances for peace, just as you must take chances in war.
Dulles John Foster 1888-1959
The world will never have lasting peace so long as
men reserve for war the finest human qualities.
Dunne Finley Peter 1867-1936
A man’s idee in a card game in war - crool, devastatin’ and pitiless. A lady’s
idee iv it is a combination iv larceny, embezzlement an’ burglary.
Eden Sir Anthony 1897-1977
(on the Suez Crisis)
We are in an armed conflict; that is the phrase I have
used. There has been no declaration of war.
Ferre Nels F.S.
A man who exeriences no genuine satisfaction in life does not want peace. People court
war to escape meaninglessness and boredom, to be relieved of fear and frustration.
Fowles John Robert 1926-
Men love war because it allows them to look serious; because it
is the only thing that stops women laughing at them.
Frankfurter Felix 1882-1965
It simply is not true that war never settles anything.
Franklin Benjamin 1706-1790
(letter to Josiah Quincy)
There never was a good war, or a bad peace.
Frye Northrop 1912-1991
War appeals to young men because it is fundamentally auto-eroticism.
Fuller Buckminster 1895-1983
Either war is obsolete or men are.
George V King 1865-1936
I have many times asked myself whether there can be more potent advocates of
peace upon earth through the years to come than this massed multitude of silent
witnesses to the desolation of war.
Ginsberg Allen 1926-1997
„Graffiti”
What if someone gave a war & Nobody came?
Life would ring the bells of Ectasy and Forever
be Itself again.
Giraudoux Jean 1882-1944
La Guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu
As soon as war is declared it will be impossible to hold the
poets back. Rhyme is still the most effective drum.
Hardy Thomas 1840-1928
The Dynasts
War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading.
Hardy Thomas 1840-1928
‘The Man he Killed’
Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat if met where any bar is
Or help to half-a-crown.
Heller Joseph 1923-
Frankly I’d like to see the government get out of war altogether
and leave the whole field to private industry.
Herbert George 1593-1633
He that makes a good war makes a good peace.
Herodotus c.485-425 BC
In peace, sons bury their father; in war, fathers bury their sons.
Hollweg Theobald von Bethmann 1856-1921
Just for a word „neutrality” - a word which in wartime has so often been
disregarded - just for a scrap of paper, Great Britain is going to make war
on a kindred nation who desires nothing better than to be friends with her.
Homer fl.8th Century BC
Men grow tired of sleep, love, singing and dancing sooner than of war.
Irving John
The object of war is to survive it.
Izetbegovic Alija 1925-
(after signing accord between Serbia and Croatia)
And to my people I say, this may not be a just peace, but it
is more just than a continuation of war.
James William 1914-1965
So far war has been the only force that can discipline a whole community, and until an equivalent discipline is organized, I believe that war must have its way.
John Paul I I Pope 1920-
Religion and peace go together, to wage war in the name of religion is a contradiction.
Kennedy John F. 1917-1963
(inaugarul address)
Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch
has been passed to a new generation of Americans - born in this century, tempered
by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage - and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.
Kennedy John F. 1917-1963
(to United Nations General Assembly)
Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.
Kennedy John F. 1917-1963
War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.
Kipling Rudyard 1865-1936
‘The Ballad of the King’s Jest’
And the talk slid north, and the talk slid south,
With the sliding puffs from the hookah-mouth.
Four things greater than all things are,
Women and Horses and Power and War.
Law Andrew Bonar 1858-1923
There is no such thing as inevitable war. If war comes
it will be from failure of human wisdom.
LEC Stanislaw 1909-1966
In a war of ideas it is people who get killed.
Lee Robert E. 1807-1870
(after the battle of Fredericksburg, attributed)
It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.
Lincoln Abraham 1809-1865
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.
Littlewood Joan and Chilton Charles 1914-1991 and 1914-
Oh what a lovely war.
Lloyd George David 1863-1945
(of World War I)
At eleven o’clock this morning came to an end the cruellest and most
terrible war that has ever scourged mankind. I hope we may say that
thus, this fateful morning, came to an end all wars.
Low Sir David 1891-1963
I have never met anyone who wasn’t against war. Even
Hitler and Mussolini were, according to themselves.
Lowell Amy 1874-1925
‘Patterns’
And the softness of my body will be guarded by embrace
By each button, hook, and lace.
For the man who should loose me is dead,
Fighting with the Duke in Flanders,
In a pattern called a war.
Christ! What are patterns for?
Lowell James Russell 1819-1891
The Biglow Papers
We’ve a war, an’ a debt, an’ a flag; an’ ef this
Ain’t to be inderpendunt, why, wut on airth is?
Lowell Robert 1917-1977
‘Waking Early Sunday Morning’
Pity the planet, all joy gone
from this sweet volcanic cone;
peace to our children when they fall
in small war on the heels of small war - until the
end of time
to police the earth, a ghost
orbiting forever lost in our monotonous sublime.
MacArthur Douglas 1880-1964
In war, indeed, there can be no substitute for victory.
McCormick Anne O’Hare d.1954
Today the real test of power is not capacity to make war but capacity to prevent it.
MacDonald Ramsay 1866-1937
We hear war called murder. It is not: it is suicide.
Macaulay Baron(Thomas Babington) 1800-1859
‘The Armada’
The rugged miners poured to war from mendip’s sunless caves.
Macaulay Baron(Thomas Babington) 1800-1859
Essays … ‘John Hampden’
He knew that he essence of war is violence, and
that moderation in war is imbecility.
Malory Sir Thomas d.1471
Le Morte D’Arthur
Through this man and me hath all this war been wrought, and the death
of the most noblest knights of the world; for through our love that we
have loved together is my most noble lord slain.
Mandelstam Osip 1892-1938
‘Tristia’(translated by C.M. Bowra)
Only in war our fate has consummation,
And divination too will perish them.
Mao TSE-TUNG 1893-1976
Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
Marlowe Christopher 1564-1593
Tamburlaine the Great
Accurst be he that first invented war.
Marvell Andrew 1621-1678
‘The Mower to the Glow-worms’
Ye country comets, that portend
No war, nor prince’s funeral,
Shining unto no higher end
Than to presage the grass’s fall.
Maurois André 1885-1967
Business is a combination of war and sport.
Mills Hugh
Nothing unites the English like war. Nothing divides them like Picasso.
Milton John 1608-1674
‘To the Lord General Cromwell’
…Peace hath her victories
No less renowned than war.
Milton John 1608-1674
‘On Lord General Fairfax … Siege of Colchester’
For what can war, but endless war still breed?
Milton John 1608-1674
‘On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity’
No war, or battle’s sound
Was heard the world around,
The idle spear and shield were high up hung.
Milton John 1608-1674
Paradise Lost
My sentence is for open war: of wiles
More unexpert, I boast not.
Milton John 1608-1674
Paradise Lost
Incensed with indignation Satan stood
Unterrified, and like a comet burned
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge
In the Artic sky, and from his horrid hair
Shakes pestilence and war.
Milton John 1608-1674
Paradise Lost
For now I see
Peace to corrupt no less than war to waste.
Mirabeau Comte de 1749-1791
(attributed)
La guerre est l’industrie nationale de la Prusse.
War is the national industry of Prussia.
Moltke Helmuth Von 1800-1891
Letter to Dr. J.K.Bluntschli
Everlasting peace is a dream, and not even a
pleasant one; and war is a necessary part of
God’s arrangement of the world … Without war
the world would deteriorate into materialism.
Mondale Walter 1928-
There will be no veterans of World War III.
Montague C. E. 1867-1928
Disenchantment
War hath no fury like a non-combatant.
Montesquieu Charles Baron de 1689-1755
An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.
Moore Thomas 1779-1852
‘The Minstrel Boy’
The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone,
In the ranks of death you’ll find him;
His father’s sword he has girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him.
Mottoes and Slogans
(pacifist slogan)
War will cease when men refuse to fight.
Mottoes and Slogans
(recruiting advertisement, World War I)
What did you do in the Great War, daddy?
Mottoes and Slogans
(student slogan, 1960s)
Make love, not war.
Napoléon I (Bonaparte) 1769-1821
In war, three-quarters turns on personal character and relations; the
balance of manpower and materials counts only for the remaining quarter.
Nin Anaïs 1903-1977
A war regarded as inevitable or even probable, and therefore much
prepared for, has a very good chance of eventually being fought.
Orwell George 1903-1950
International sport is war without shooting.
Orwell George 1903-1950
Nineteen Eighty-Four
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
Orwell George 1903-1950
Polemic, May
The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.
Owen Wilfred 1893-1918
My subject is War, and the pity of War.
The Poetry is in the pity.
Palafox José de 1780-1847
(at the siege of Saragossa)
Guerra a cuchillo.
War by the knife.
Plomer William 1903-1973
‘The Boer War’
Out of that bungled, unwise war
An alp of unforgiveness grew.
Porteus Beilby 1731-1808
Death
War its thousands slays, Peace its ten thousands.
Proverbs and Sayings
Latin
Sweet is war to those who have never experienced it.
Rae John 1931-
The Custard Boys
War is, after all, the universal perversion … war stories, the pornography of war.
Rogers Will 1879-1935
You can’t say civilization don’t advance, however,
for in every war they kill you in a new way.
Sandburg Carl 1878-1967
Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.
Sartre Jean-Paul 1905-1980
Lucifer and the Lord
When the rich wage war it’s the poor who die.
Service Robert 1874-1958
‘Michael’
When we, the Workers, all demand: ‘What are We fighting for?’…
Then, then we’ll end that stupid crime, that devil’s madness - War.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
Julius Caesar
Cry, ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
Othello
Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner, and all quality,
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
Richard II
The purple testament of bleeding war.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
The Taming of the Shrew
I am ashamed that women are so simple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace.
Sherman William 1820-1891
There is many a boy here to-day who looks
on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.
Somerville William 1675-1742
The Chase
The chase, the sport of kings;
Image of war, without its guilt.
Southey Robert 1774-1843
Madoc
We wage no war with women nor with priests.
Spender Sir Stephen 1909-1995
‘Who live under the shadow of a war’
Who live under the shadow of a war,
What can I do that matters?
Spinoza Baruch 1632-1677
Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind,
a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
Stoppard Tom 1937-
Travesties
War is capitalism with the gloves off and many who go to war know
it but they go to war because they don’t want to be a hero.
Studdert Kennedy G.A. 1883-1929
More Rough Rhymes of a Padre ,‚Waste”
Waste of Blood, and waste of Tears,
Waste of youth’s most precious years,
Waste of ways the saints have trod,
Waste of Glory, waste of God,
War!
Surtees R.S. 1805-1864
Handley Cross
‘Unting is all that’s worth living for ... it’s the sport of kings, the image of war
without its guilt, and only five-and-twenty per cent of its danger.
Swift Jonathan 1667-1745
‘On Poetry’
Hobbes clearly proves, that every creature
Lives in a state of war by nature.
Taylor A.J.P. 1906-1990
Rumours of Wars
Crimea: The War That Would Not Boil.
Thurber James 1894-1961
The war between men and women.
Tuchman Barbara W. 1912-1989
August 1914
Dead battles, like dead generals, hold the military mind in their dead grip and Germans, no less than other peoples, prepare for the last war.
Tuchman Barbara W. 1912-1989
War is the unfolding of miscalculations.
Vauvenargues Marquis de 1715-1747
Vice stirs up war; virtue fights.
Vegetius AD 379-395
Let him who desires peace, prepare for war.
Vincent Field Marshall Sir Richard 1931-
The first principle of war is: For God’s sake decide what you’re
trying to achieve before you go out and start doing it.
Wallace Henry 1888-1965
The century on which we are entering - the century which will come out
of this war - can be and must be the century of the common man.
Weil Simone 1909-1943
What a country calls its vital economic interests are not the things which
enable its citizens to live, but the things which enable it to make war.
Wellington Duke of 1769-1852
The Croker Papers
All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to
endeavour to find out what you don’t know by what you do;
that’s what I called „guessing what was at the other side of the hill”.
Wells H.G. 1866-1946
The war that will end war.
White Theodore
There is no excitement anywhere in the world, short of war, to match
the excitement of the American presidential campaign.
Wilde Oscar 1854-1900
As 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.
Will George
World War II was the last government program that really worked.
Wilson Woodrow 1856-1924
It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most
terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance.
But the right is more precious that peace, and we shall fight for the things which
we have always carried nearest our hearts – for democracy.
Wilson Woodrow 1856-1924
Once lead this people into war and they will forget
there ever was such a thing as tolerance.
Young Edward 1683-1765
The Love of Fame
One to destroy, is murder by the law;
And gibbets keep the lifted hand in awe;
To murder thousands, takes a specious name,
‘War’s glorious art’, and gives immortal fame.