Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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“We don't like to kill our unborn, we need them to grow up and fight our wars.”
Marilyn Manson (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A pacifist between wars is like a vegetarian between meals.”
Ammon Hennacy (1893–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They like a bomb-proof Cadillac Air-conditioned, gold taps Back-seat gun rack, Platinum hub caps They pick horses for courses They're the market forces They like order, make-up, limelight, power Game shows, rodeos, Star Wars, TV They're The Powers That Be If you see them come, you better run”
Roger Waters (born 1943) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Powers That Be" on Radio KAOS (Roger Waters, 1987)
“The characteristic mark of this age of dictators, wars and revolutions is its anti-capitalistic bias. Most governments and political parties are eager to restrict the sphere of private initiative and free enterprise. It is an almost unchallenged dogma that capitalism is done for and that the coming of all-round regimentation of economic activities is both inescapable and highly desirable.”
Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in LIFE magazine (3 October 1969), p. 32
“Modern wars are seldom fought without hatred between nations; this serves more or less as a substitute for hatred between individuals.”
Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831) said by 1831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In today's wars, there are no morals. We believe the worst thieves in the world today and the worst terrorists are the Americans. We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets.”
Osama bin Laden (1957–2011) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "The Most Wanted Man in the World" (16 September 2001), Time magazine profile.
“[Comparing Ronald Reagan's Cabinet to Star Wars] There's Henry Kissinger as Yoda, "Must now cannot see understanding that I be here for you. I will show you now, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Cambodia, shhh. Must later understand!”
Robin Williams (1951–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She saw that in all wars, the first stage was to dehumanize the enemy, reduce the enemy to a lower level so that he might be killed without compunction. When the enemy was not human to begin with, the task was easier.”
Greg Bear (1951–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wars begin in the minds of men, and in those minds, love and compassion would have built the defenses of peace.”
U Thant (1909–1974) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Buddhism and the Charter", in Jeffrey Rose and Michael Ignatieff (eds.) Religion and International Affairs (1968), p. 114
“Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wars, conflict, it's all business. "One murder makes a villain. Millions a hero". Numbers sanctify.”
Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Monsieur Verdoux (1947); Chaplin in this line is quoting an older statement of Bishop Beilby Porteus: "One murder makes a villain. Millions a hero.
“I feel I am privileged to express a hope. The hope is this: that we shall have peace throughout the world: that we shall abolish wars, and settle all international differences at the conference table: that we shall abolish all atom and hydrogen bombs, before they abolish us first.”
Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In response to journalist for his views on the future of mankind at his 70th birthday (16 April 1959)
“This is a story of a period between two World Wars — an interim in which insanity cut loose. Liberty took a nose dive, and humanity was kicked around somewhat.”
Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“OK, everybody, I got to get to Star Wars.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Obama cuts off press conference to go see 'Star Wars'", The Hill (18 December 2015)
“As one who fought in all of Israel's wars, and learned from personal experience that without proper force, we do not have a chance of surviving in this region, which does not show mercy towards the weak, I have also learned from experience that the sword alone cannot decide this bitter dispute in this land.”
Ariel Sharon (1928–2014) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ariel Sharon. "Speech at the Knesset, at knesset.gov, October 2004 (Knesset.gov.il online)
“The transfer of the allegiance and citizenship, of no small part of the heart and life, of human beings from one sovereignty to another, without any reference to their own consent, has been a great reproach to some former transactions in Europe; has led to many wars and disturbances; is hard to reconcile with considerations of equity; and is repulsive to the sense of modern civilization.”
William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) first seen 1792 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Lord Granville (24 September 1870), quoted in Harold Temperley and Lillian M. Penson, Foundations of British Foreign Policy from Pitt (1792) to Salisbury (1902) or Documents, Old and New (1938), pp. 325–326
“A military draft is undesirable and unnecessary. We can and should man our armed forces with volunteers—as the United States has traditionally done except in major wars.”
Milton Friedman (1912–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men who fight wars in Winter don’t live till Spring.”
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Future markets, holy wars Been tried ten thousand times before If you think that god is keeping score, hooray!”
Conor Oberst (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As global temperatures surge, so do oil-company profits, and U.S. soldiers in Iraq...the alarm has sounded: We need a sane energy policy that decreases our oil consumption (the Germans and French, “Old Europe,” use half as much per capita as we do in the U.S.). The potential for environmental disaster, and the prospects of protracted wars for oil, demand no less.”
Amy Goodman (born 1957) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Global Warring, Global Warming, Global Warning" article (2007)
“Elected officials will not solve our media crisis alone. The grass-roots movement for media reform is growing, and with mass layoffs in newspaper and broadcast newsrooms, critical elections, burgeoning military budgets and multiple wars and occupations, and with emergent and accessible digital-media tools and networks increasingly available to most people, there is no better time to join it.”
Amy Goodman (born 1957) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This Way to Better Media” article (2008)
“Most of the people who get sent to die in wars are young men who've got a lot of energy and would probably rather, in a better world, be putting that energy into copulation rather than going over there and blowing some other young man's guts out.”
Alan Moore (born 1953) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Craft" - interview with Daniel Whiston, Engine Comics (January 2005)
“Let us trust God and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs. Let us preserve our strength for the French, the English, the Germans, or whoever else shall dare invade our territory, and not exhaust it in civil commotions and intestine wars.”
Patrick Henry (1736–1799) first seen 1799 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Last public speech before his death (4 March 1799); as quoted in Patrick Henry: Life, Correspondences and Speeches (1891) by William Wirt Henry, Vol. 2, p. 609-610
“The suppression of natural sexual gratification leads to various kinds of substitute gratifications. Natural aggression, for example, becomes brutal sadism which then is an essential mass-psychological factor in imperialistic wars.”
Wilhelm Reich (1897–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.”
Harper Lee (1926–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here was a new generation, shouting the old cries, learning the old creeds, through a revery of long days and nights; destined finally to go out into that dirty gray turmoil to follow love and pride; a new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken. . . .”
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The moral and constitutional obligations of our representatives in Washington are to protect our liberty, not coddle the world, precipitating no-win wars, while bringing bankruptcy and economic turmoil to our people.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Freedom Under Siege (1987).
“We can achieve much more in peace than we can ever achieve in these needless, unconstitutional, undeclared wars.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Republican debate in Des Moines, Iowa, August 5, 2007
“The strength of a civilization is not measured by its ability to fight wars, but rather by its ability to prevent them.”
Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Shown at the end of the episode "Scorched Earth", no. 14 in the 3rd season of Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict, first aired on February 7, 2000.
Also quoted by: Eugene Wesley Roddenberry (pt)
“It's Star Wars starring an eleven-year-old girl”
George Lucas (born 1944) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 3 April 2008 at Cartoon Network's Upfront
“But France's powerful armies, and a very large number of fortresses, ensure that the French Sovereign will possess the throne forever, and they do not have anything to fear now concerning internal wars or their neighbors invading France.”
Frederick II of Prussia (1712–1786) said by 1786 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Endless wars persist (and in some cases have even intensified); the nation’s various alliances and its empire of overseas bases remain intact; US troops are still present in something like 140 countries; Pentagon and national security state spending continues to increase astronomically.”
Andrew Bacevich (born 1947) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Patriotic Dissent: How a Working-Class Soldier Turned Against “Forever Wars”, by Steve Early and Suzanne Gordon, CounterPunch, (24 July 2020)
“Trump’s most unforgivable sin in the eyes of the deep state is his criticism of the empire’s endless wars, even though he lacks the intellectual and organizational skills to oversee a disengagement.”
Chris Hedges (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every year $1.5 trillion is spent on weapons and military which the majority of it, is related to the United States. If this money was spent to end poverty, would there be any poor people left in the world? They got money for wars But can't feed the poor”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born 1956) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Twitter 4 Dec 2018
“I think women should make a habit of canceling the wars.”
Leonard Wibberley (1915–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He had thought his wars over. Now he realized peace had been merely a lull.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“„…there will be no peace in the tormented world, only a programmed and systematic series of wars and calamities—until the plotters have gained their objective: an exhausted world willing to submit to a planned Marxist economy and total and meek enslavement— in the name of peace.”
Taylor Caldwell (1900–1985) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ceremony of the Innocent: A novel", first edition Doubleday, 1976, p. 218
“In wars, boy, fools kill other fools for foolish causes.”
Robert Jordan (1948–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wars, for us, are either inevitable, or created. Whatever they are, they should not wholly vitiate art. What art needs is greater men, and what politics needs is better men.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.”
Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) said by 1893 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Presidents are humans, too… it is really awkward to be with parents who have buried a child. There isn’t really anything anyone can say that isn’t somewhat hurtful. However, since I publicly opposed the wars and U.S. empire, I have heard, “He knew what he was signing up for,” many times. It’s simply not true, like I said before.”
Cindy Sheehan (born 1957) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: ‘Bush Was No Better’ Than Donald Trump, Daily Beast (23 November 2017)
“What can a president say, “Sorry your loved one was killed so the U.S. could make sure that we had complete control over all of (fill in the blank name of country)’s natural resources and so that Boeing, Halliburton, and Raytheon could have massive profits?” Better that the barbarism of wars for profit ends.”
Cindy Sheehan (born 1957) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: ‘Bush Was No Better’ Than Donald Trump, Daily Beast (23 November 2017)
“In every premenstrual woman struggling to govern her temper, sky-cult wars again with earth-cult.”
Camille Paglia (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Try to remember this lesson. It might keep you alive a little longer. The most precious thing to a human being is a mind-set: more precious than one’s own life, even. Human history has taught us that lesson time and again, with its endless parade of wars—human sacrifices en masse—thousands of deaths over the most trivial of differences of religious interpretation.”
Stephen Baxter (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So on he went, and on the way he thought Of all the glorious things of yesterday, Nought of the price whereat they must be bought, But ever to himself did softly say "No roaming now, my wars are passed away, No long dull days devoid of happiness, When such a love my yearning heart shall bless.”
William Morris (1834–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have been through many wars in our life. We have been through fighting. I've been on the battlefield myself. This combination of gas and Jewish state certainly hits a chord and touches a nerve. And what's moreover, a German-manufactured gas aimed at Jews in the Jewish state is something which touches a very deep emotion in all of us.”
Amos Oz (1939–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I very much believe that we share the same human values... If you scan through all the religions — monotheistic and others — they all preach the same... I think all our fights, our wars, and all our disagreements are just expressions of frustration at our human condition at a particular time. I don't think it has to do with us believing in different values.”
Mohamed ElBaradei (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the immediate aftermath of the heroic rescue of soldiers from Dunkirk, Winston Churchill addressed the British as adults, reminding them that ‘wars are not won by evacuations.’”
George Will (born 1941) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Opinion: Biden’s Afghanistan policy shows the world a wobbly, impulsive U.S.” The Washington Post, (Aug. 27, 2021)
“Two world wars have destroyed in a few years the material and spiritual capital accumulated by centuries of work. The nineteenth century had hoped to turn man, by virtue of education, into a reasoning being: a half-century of ferocity has proved that a cruel, primitive beast still resides in him.”
André Maurois (1885–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source