Quotes about war
Welcome to our War collection, a somber exploration of humanity's struggles, conflicts, and the profound impact of warfare on individuals and societies. In this curated compilation of quotes, we reflect on the complex and often tragic nature of war, seeking to understand its lessons, the resilience it reveals, and the aspirations for lasting peace.
War is more than battles and strategies; it's a testament to both the darkest and the noblest aspects of human nature. Our War quotes honor the sacrifices of those who serve, the realities of the battlefield, and the fervent hopes for a world where diplomacy and understanding prevail.
Whether you're a historian tracing the footprints of past conflicts, an advocate for peace and diplomacy, or simply captivated by the intricacies of wartime experiences, these quotes offer insights into the complexities of war's impact on individuals and societies.
Embark on a journey that explores the stories of heroism, the scars that endure long after conflicts end, and the role of nations and leaders in shaping history. Discover the narratives of resilience, the lessons drawn from the aftermath of war, and the collective responsibility to work towards a world where the pursuit of peace transcends the echoes of battle.
Joyce Carol Oates
— AuthorThe folly of war is that it can have no natural end except in the extinction an entire people.
Sarah Vowell
— AuthorHistory is one war after another with a bunch of murders and natural disasters in between.
E. B. White
— Versatile Writer & Author of Beloved ClassicsThe time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war.
Shigeru Yoshida
— Former Prime Minister of JapanHistory offers examples of winning in diplomacy after losing in war.
M. F. K. Fisher
— Pioneering Food WriterI believe that one of the most dignified ways we are capable of, to assert and then reassert our dignity in the face of poverty and war's fears and pains, is to nourish ourselves with all possible skill, delicacy, and ever-increasing enjoyment.
Raymond Gram Swing
— Renowned Radio CommentatorThe alternative to peace is not war. It is annihilation.
Neil Patrick Harris
— American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television hostAmerican Sniper focuses on a soldier with 160 kills, or as Harvey Weinstein calls it, a slow morning.
Will Ferrell
— American actor, comedian, producer, and writerMembers of the Senate and House, if they want to send troops into war, should be forced to send a family member. That would really make everyone stop and go, 'Ohhh-kaaay.'
Eli Roth
— American film director, producer, and actor'Hostel' is that's how I feel about what's going on in Iraq. There's people that just want money and people are being sacrificed for it.
David Cross
— American stand-up comedian, actor, director and writerYou cannot win a War on Terrorism. It's like having a war on jealousy.
Alexander Pope
— English poet, translator, and satirist of the Augustan periodIntestine war no more our passions wage,
And giddy factions bear away their rage.
Ludwig von Mises
— Austrian School economist, historian, logician, and sociologistWar is harmful, not only to the conquered but to the conqueror. Society has arisen out of the works of peace; the essence of society is peacemaking. Peace and not war is the father of all things. Only economic action has created the wealth around us; labor, not the profession of arms, brings happiness. Peace builds, war destroys.
Eknath Easwaran
— Indian-born spiritual teacher, author and translator and interpreter of Indian religious textsInternational war is the sum total of millions of individual wars, raging in the minds of the people, between what is selfish and what is selfless. To the extent that you and I develop selflessness in our own hearts, to that extent we contribute to peace in our family, community, country, and world.
Napoleon Bonaparte
— French military and political leaderThe art of land warfare is an art of genius, of inspiration. On the sea nothing is genius or inspiration; everything is positive or empiric.
John Adams
— American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding FatherGreat is the guilt of an unnecessary war.
James Fenton
— English poet, journalist and literary criticMy feeling is that poetry will wither on the vine if you don't regularly come back to the simplest fundamentals of the poem: rhythm, rhyme, simple subjects - love, death, war.
David Benioff
— American writer, director and producerThat is the way we decided to talk, free and easy, two young men discussing a boxing match. That was the only way to talk. You couldn't let too much truth seep into your conversation, you couldn't admit with your mouth what your eyes had seen. If you opened the door even a centimeter, you would smell the rot outside and hear the screams. You did not open the door. You kept your mind on the tasks of the day, the hunt for food and water and something to burn, and you saved the rest for the end of the war.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorWars are never fought for altruistic reasons. They're usually fought for hegemony, for business. And then of course there's the business of war.
Benjamin Rush
— Politician, physician, philosopher, educator, one of the founding fathers of the United States in the broadest sense of the termThe American war is over; but this far from being the case with the American revolution. On the contrary, nothing but the first act of the drama is closed. It remains yet to establish and perfect our new forms of government, and to prepare the principles, morals, and manners of our citizens for these forms of government after they are established and brought to perfection.
Ben Nelson
— American attorney, businessman, and politicianA democratic and stable Iraq and Afghanistan are essential to our broader efforts to make no place safe for terrorists and to win the War on Terrorism.
Brian Jacques
— English novelistThere is no greater evil than killing. I don't care whether they call it war or justice. Life is precious.
Ang Lee
— Taiwanese film directorWhen I grew up, in Taiwan, the Korean War was seen as a good war, where America protected Asia. It was sort of an extension of World War II. And it was, of course, the peak of the Cold War. People in Taiwan were generally proAmerican. The Korean War made Japan. And then the Vietnam War made Taiwan. There is some truth to that.
Adrian Anthony Gill
— British journalist, critic, and authorAll my life I've been aware of the Second World War humming in the background. I was born 10 years after it was finished, and without ever seeing it. It formed my generation and the world we lived in. I played Hurricanes and Spitfires in the playground, and war films still form the basis of all my moral philosophy. All the men I've ever got to my feet for or called sir had been in the war.
Christian Dior
— French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses Christian Dior SEWe were emerging from the period of war, of uniforms, of women-soldiers built like boxers. I drew women-flowers, soft shoulders, fine waists like liana and wide skirts like corolla.
David Crosby
— American singer-songwriter and musicianAfter all the time we [people] spent saying look, war is a stupid way to solve stuff - oh, you're not trying to solve stuff. You're trying to make money.
Sarah Vowell
— AuthorUntil that moment, I hadn't realized that I embarked on the project of touring historic sites and monuments having to do with the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley right around the time my country iffily went to war, which is to say right around the time my resentment of the current president cranked up into contempt. Not that I want the current president killed. Like that director, I will, for the record (and for the FBI agent assigned to read this and make sure I mean no harm — hello there), clearly state that while I am obsessed with death, I am against it.
Shigeru Yoshida
— Former Prime Minister of JapanWe have listened here to the delegates who have recalled the terrible human suffering, and the great material destruction of the late war in the Pacific. It is with feelings of sorrow that we recall the part played in that catastrophic human experience by the old Japan.
M. F. K. Fisher
— Pioneering Food WriterIt is easy to think of potatoes, and fortunately for men who have not much money it is easy to think of them with a certain safety. Potatoes are one of the last things to disappear, in times of war, which is probably why they should not be forgotten in times of peace.
Ludwig von Mises
— Austrian School economist, historian, logician, and sociologistOnly one thing can conquer war-that attitude of mind which can see nothing in war but destruction and annihilation.
Napoleon Bonaparte
— French military and political leaderWar is not at all such a difficult art as people think. . . . In reality it would seem that he is vanquished who is afraid of his adversary and the the whole secret lies in that.
John Adams
— American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding FatherThere is no greater guilt than the unneccessary war.
Benjamin Rush
— Politician, physician, philosopher, educator, one of the founding fathers of the United States in the broadest sense of the termAs the War Office of the United States was established in a time of peace, it is equally reasonable that a Peace Office should be established in a time of War.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorThe only good thing about nuclear war is that it is the single most egalitarian idea that man has ever had. On the day of reckoning, you will not be asked to present your credentials. The devastation will be indiscriminate.
Alexander Pope
— English poet, translator, and satirist of the Augustan periodWhat Tully said of war may be applied to disputing: "It should be always so managed as to remember that the only true end of it is peace." But generally true disputants are like true sportsmen,--their whole delight is in the pursuit; and the disputant no more cares for the truth than the sportsman for the hare.
Allen Ginsberg
— American poet and writerThey [Nicaragua] haven't had elections because they are in a state of seige by the United States. They would have had elections if the U.S. had left them alone. But the U.S. has mounted a full scale war against them. So how can you ask them to behave normally?
Sarah Vowell
— AuthorExcept for the people who were there that one day they discovered the polio vaccine, being part of history is rarely a good idea. History is one war after another with a bunch of murders and natural disasters in between.
M. F. K. Fisher
— Pioneering Food WriterWar is a beastly business, it is true, but one proof we are human is our ability to learn, even from it, how better to exist
Napoleon Bonaparte
— French military and political leaderIn a battle, as in a siege, the art consists in concentrating very heavy fire on a particular point. The line of battle once established, the one who has the ability to concentrate an unlooked for mass of artillery suddenly and unexpectedly on one of these points is sure to carry the day.
John Adams
— American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding FatherThe History of our Revolution will be one continued Lye from one End to the other. The Essence of the whole will be that Dr Franklins electrical Rod, Smote the Earth and out Spring General Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his Rod - and thence forward these two conducted all the Policy Negotiations Legislation and War.
Benjamin Rush
— Politician, physician, philosopher, educator, one of the founding fathers of the United States in the broadest sense of the termThe American war is over, but this is far from being the case with the American Revolution.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorPublic support in the U.S. for the war against Iraq was founded on a multitiered edifice of falsehood and deceit, coordinated by the U.S. government and faithfully amplified by the corporate media.
Napoleon Bonaparte
— French military and political leaderIf the art of war were nothing but the art of avoiding risks, glory would become the prey of mediocre minds.... I have made all the calculations; fate will do the rest.
John Adams
— American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding FatherI must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorIt's being made out that the whole point of the war was to topple the Taliban regime and liberate Afghan women from their burqas, we are being asked to believe that the U.S. marines are actually on a feminist mission.
Napoleon Bonaparte
— French military and political leaderIn war there is but one favorable moment; the great art is to seize it!
John Adams
— American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding FatherBut what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations ... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorTalk loud enough about human rights and it gives the impression of democracy at work, justice at work. There was a time when the United States waged war to topple democracies, because back then democracy was a threat to the Free Market. Countries were nationalising their resources, protecting their markets.... So then, real democracies were being toppled. They were toppled in Iran, they were toppled all across Latin America, Chile.
Napoleon Bonaparte
— French military and political leaderYou must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.
John Adams
— American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding FatherI must study war and politics so that my children shall be free to study commerce, agriculture and other practicalities, so that their children can study painting, poetry and other fine things.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorThe war in Afghanistan was fought for feminist reasons, and the Marines were really on this feminist mission. But today, all the women in all these countries have been driven back into medieval situations. Women who were liberated, women who were doctors and lawyers and poets and writers and - you know, pushed back into this Shia set against Sunnis. The U.S. is supporting al-Qaeda militias all over this region and pretending that it's fighting Islam. So we are in a situation that is psychopathic.
Napoleon Bonaparte
— French military and political leaderThe art of war is to gain time when your strength is inferior.
John Adams
— American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding FatherThe consequences of these institutions (The towns or districts, the congregations, the schools,and the militia.) have been, that the inhabitants, having acquired from their infancy the habit of discussing, of deliberating, and of judging of public affairs, it was in these assemblies of towns or districts that the sentiments of the people were formed in the first place, and their resolutions were taken from the beginning to the end of the disputes and the war with Great Britain.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorI think it was 50 million people across the world who marched against the war in Iraq. It was perhaps the biggest display of public morality in the world - you know, I mean, before the war happened. Before the war happened, everybody knew that they were being fed lies.
Napoleon Bonaparte
— French military and political leaderRead over and over again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus, Turenne, Eugene and Frederic. ... This is the only way to become a great general and master the secrets of the art of war.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorNothing mattered much. Nothing much mattered. And the less it mattered the less it mattered. It was never important enough. Because Worse Things had happened. In the country that she came from poised forever between the terror of war and the horror of peace Worse Things kept happening
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorIraq was only the latest in a succession of countries. Earlier, there was Cuba, Nicaragua, Libya, Granada, Panama. But this time it wasn't just your ordinary brand of friendly neighborhood frenzy. It was frenzy with a purpose. It ushered in an old doctrine in a new bottle: the doctrine of preemptive strike, also known as the United States can do whatever the hell it wants, and that's official. The war against Iraq has been fought and won, and no weapons of mass destruction have been found, not even a little one.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorThere is a war that makes us adore our conquerors and despise ourselves.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorAnd when we look in through the windows, all we see are shadows. And when we try and listen, all we hear is a whispering. And we cannot understand the whispering, because our minds have been invaded by a war. A war that we have both won and lost. The very worst sort of war. A war that captures dreams and re-dreams them. A war that has made us adore our conquerors and despise ourselves.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorThe trouble is that once America goes off to war, it can't very well return without having fought one. If it doesn't find its enemy, for the sake of the enraged folks back home, it will have to manufacture one. Once war begins, it will develop a momentum, a logic and a justification of its own, and we'll lose sight of why it's being fought in the first place.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorMao said he was prepared to have millions of Chinese people perish in a nuclear war as long as China survived... I'm beginning to find it more and more sick that only humans make it into our calculations... Annihilate life on earth, but save the nation... what's the subject heading? Stupidity or Insanity?
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorEver since the Great Depression, we know that one of the key ways in which the US economy has stimulated growth is by manufacturing weapons and exporting war to other countries.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorThe invasion of Iraq will surely go down in history as one of the most cowardly wars ever fought. It was a war in which a band of rich nations, armed with enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over, rounded on a poor nation, falsely accused it of having nuclear weapons, used the United Nations to force it to disarm, then invaded it, occupied it, and are now in the process of selling it.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorIn 2001, we were told that the war in Afghanistan was a feminist mission. The marines were liberating Afghan women from the Taliban. Can you really bomb feminism into a country? And now, after 25 years of brutal war - 10 years against the Soviet occupation, 15 years of US occupation - the Taliban is riding back to Kabul and will soon be back to doing business with the United States.
Arundhati Roy
— Indian authorI'm not ambitious. I don't want to get anywhere, I don't want anything more. I sometimes think that for me that is the real freedom, that I don't want anything. I don't want money or prizes. I want people to know that a war is going to be fought.