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War
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“The idea that we’re going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews, just understand ... that’s called World War III, okay? Let’s get it straight here, guys. We will not fight the third world war in Ukraine.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Why Biden and the White House keep talking about World War III (March 17, 2022)
“If the result of a war is to change nothing, but only to destroy, with the mere result that a group of human beings who do not differ notably from the conquered acquires preponderant advantages for the future, there is lacking the affective strength of an existence that has inspired faith, of an existence whose destiny would have been decided by the war.”
Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“War was return of earth to ugly earth, War was foundering of sublimities, Extinction of each happy art and faith By which the world had still kept head in air.”
Robert Graves (1895–1985) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Recalling War," lines 31–34, from Collected Poems 1938 (1938)
“I have said, and I repeat, at the risk of appearing sacrilegious, that the gas chambers are a detail of the history of the Second World War. … If you take a book of a thousand pages on the Second World War, in which 50 million people died, the concentration camps occupy two pages and the gas chambers ten or 15 lines, and that's what's called a detail.”
Jean-Marie Le Pen (1928–2025) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement in Munich (5 December 1997), as quoted in The Journal of Historical Review, Vol. 21 (2002) by the Institute for Historical Review, p. 3
“One must defeat their prejudices. What I demand you here is almost impossible, for we have to defeat our history. And yet, if we do not defeat it, one must know a rule will impose itself, ladies and gentlemen: nationalism is war! War is not only our past, it may be our future; and you members of parliament are henceforth the guardians of our peace, of our security, and of this future.”
François Mitterrand (1916–1996) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lecture held at European Parliament (17 January 1995)
“Like, on Thyker, those High Baidee make a law that says no killing, ignoring the times when killing is the only merciful thing to do, but then they make exceptions for war, because they like war. I know all about it. We women know all about it.”
Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I fear that, eventually, we are all going to become collateral damage in the war on drugs, or terrorism, or whatever war is in vogue at the moment.”
James C. Nelson (1944–2006) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Concurring opinion in Montana v. Pelvit (No. 03-572) (2005)
“[On the Gulf War] The ground war lasted 100 hours. A hundred fuckin' hours. I've had parties go on longer than that, folks!”
Sam Kinison (1953–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“War was rapidly doing what war did—making ugly everything it touched.”
Harry Turtledove (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Something does stink down in Richmond. If we try to root it out now, we are liable to lose the war in the confusion that would follow. But if we don’t try to root it out, we are liable to lose the war from the confusion it causes.”
Harry Turtledove (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’m not afraid,” Edith said. “God will watch over all of us. I know He’s on our side.” Everybody in every war since the world began was convinced God was on his side. Half the people in every war since the world began ended up being wrong.”
Harry Turtledove (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only thing worse than fighting a war and winning is fighting a war and losing.”
Harry Turtledove (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success.”
Isoroku Yamamoto (1884–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement to Japanese cabinet minister Shigeharu Matsumoto and Japanese prime minister Fumimaro Konoe, as quoted in Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan (1985) by Ronald Spector. This remark would later pr…
“The cause of war is preparation for war.”
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Darkwater (1920), Ch. II: The Souls of White Folk
“Socialism stood for the divinity of the human race and as such detested war and all preparations leading to war. The one party in the world that could be trusted to be a peace party at all times was the Socialist and Labour party.”
Keir Hardie (1856–1915) first seen 1907 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the Guildhall in Cambridge (16 February 1907), quoted in The Times (18 February 1907), p. 12
“It is time to consign to oblivion the cold war postulates when Europe was viewed as an arena of confrontation divided into "spheres of influence" and someone else's "forward-based defences", as an object of military confrontation — namely a theatre of war.”
Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We're now living in a new world. And end has been put to the cold war and to the arms race, as well as to the mad militarization of the country, which has crippled our economy, public attitudes and morals. The threat of nuclear war has been removed.”
Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We had 10 years after the Cold War to build a new world order and yet we squandered them. The United States cannot tolerate anyone acting independently. Every US president has to have a war.”
Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in an interview with The London Daily Telegraph (7 May 2008)
“From Britain's point of view the 1939 war had been a liberal war which had been entered into in a condition of moral indignation without the resources to fight it, that it had been providential good fortune which had placed the burden of fighting on the Russians and the Americans.”
Maurice Cowling (1926–2005) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mill and Liberalism: Second Edition (1990), p. xv
“War is a very terrible thing, and, when once let loose in Europe, no man can tell how far it will spread, and no man can tell when or how it will stop. I am quite content in these circumstances to be called a coward if I have done what I could, in accordance with the views of every country in Europe, to keep my own people out of war.”
Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the centenary dinner of the City of London Conservative and Unionist Association (2 July 1936) on the Italo-Abyssinian War, quoted in Service of Our Lives (1937), pp. 41-42.
“That morning he had flown up the river over London. He had imagined a German bomber flying the same course. He had asked himself what degree of protection we could afford to the thousands of homes which he had seen stretched out before him, and he had felt that we were in no position to justify waging a war to-day in order to prevent a war hereafter.”
Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks to the Cabinet on his meeting with Hitler at Bad Godesberg (24 September 1938), quoted in Correlli Barnett, The Collapse of British Power (1972), p. 538
“We've got to win it. We're in it. Politically it is impossible for anybody to withdraw. The British people would not stand it. We have got to beat Hitler... Chamberlain is not a war man. He's a man of peace. His heart is not in the war. The only hope is to put Churchill in charge and get rid of Chamberlain.”
Michael Foot (1913–2010) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks to Lord Beaverbrook during the Phoney War (1940), quoted in Anne Wolrige Gordon, Peter Howard: Life and Letters (1969), pp. 101-102
“In our new age of terrifying, lethal gadgets, which supplanted so swiftly the old one, the first great aggressive war, if it should come, will be launched by suicidal little madmen pressing an electronic button. Such a war will not last long and none will ever follow it. There will be no conquerors and no conquests, but only the charred bones of the dead on an uninhabited planet. (Preface)”
William L. Shirer (1904–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yet more and more of the youth of America are instinctively horrified at the way President Johnson avoided all constitutional procedures and slyly maneuvered us into an Asian war. There was no national debate over a declaration of war. The lies and half-truths that were told, and the phony excuses gradually advanced, made most Americans dubious of the integrity of our leadership.”
William O. Douglas (1898–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The word 'campaign' is a war term. So when you go into a campaign you just prepare to go to war. If you think this is an exercise in civic activity...then you are going to be surprised.”
Nancy Pelosi (born 1940) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Paul S. Herrnson, "Women Running 'as Women': Candidate Gender, Campaign Issues, and Voter-Targeting Strategies", The Journal of Politics, vol. 65 no. 1 (2003)
“Billy asked him if such men as had stole his eyes were only products of the war but the blind man said that since war itself was their very doing that could hardly be the case.”
Cormac McCarthy (1933–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now with our concentrations in Sinai, the chances of war are fifty-fifty. But if we close the Strait, war will be a one hundred percent certainty.”
Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We knew that by closing the Gulf of Aqaba it might mean war with Israel. [If war comes] it will be total and the objective will be to destroy Israel.”
Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–1970) first seen 1967 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in the Washington Post (27 May 1967)
“The socialist society will not be a battlefield for class-war, because the classes will have been abolished, but that can only be accomplished through the greatest class-war the world has ever seen, as the modern proletariat rise up for justice and power.”
Ture Nerman (1886–1969) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nya Samhället (3 November 1913)
“Give a human face to drug users and understand why they need narcotics is the only chance that we have to win the war on drugs. ... Give a human face to terrorists and understand why they resort to violence is the only chance that we have to win the war on terror.”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The popular anti-war slogan from the 1960’s says it best: “Make love, not war.”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If war breaks out, I will fight for Hitler since such a war would be against Jewry.”
William Joyce (1906–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The War is the first and only thing in the world today. The arts generally are not, nor is this writing a diversion from that for relief, a turning away. It is the war or part of it, merely a different sector of the field.”
William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Germans really conceive of their country as always under war conditions in this respect. No one expects a belligerent to tell the truth and, to the German mind, they are always belligerent. The Germans take the view that war is only intensified peace.”
Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood (1864–1958) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Lord Londonderry (May 1938); published in Wings of Destiny (1943) by Marquess of Londonderry, p. 211
“The vast majority of the peoples of the world are against war and against aggression. If they make their wishes known and effective, war can be stopped. It all depends on whether they are willing to make the effort necessary for the purpose. For, that it will require an effort, no one who considers the history of the world on these subjects can doubt.”
Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood (1864–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“it is a giant step from hating the warriors to hating the war, and an even greater step to deciding that the "enemy" is the abstract institution of war, which maintains its grip on us even in the interludes we know as peace.”
Barbara Ehrenreich (1941–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I take it to be a fundamental assumption that whatever post-war international organisation is established, it will be our aim to maintain the British Commonwealth as an international entity, recognised as such by foreign countries... If we are to carry our full weight in the post-war world with the US and USSR, it can only be as a united British Commonwealth.”
Clement Attlee (1883–1967) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'The Relations of the British Commonwealth to the Post-War International Political Organisation' (June 1943), quoted in Correlli Barnett, The Lost Victory: British Dreams, British Realities 1945–1950 (1995), p. 51
“As so often in Indo-Pakistani and Hindu-Muslim comparisons, the argument is reminiscent of the inequality between the contenders in the Cold War: you could demonstrate for disarmament in the West, but to demonstrate for this in the East Bloc (except if it were for unilateral disarmament by the Western “war-mongers”) would have put you in trouble.”
Koenraad Elst (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I hate war, I hate war.”
Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1862–1933) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remark to Arthur Nicolson in the Foreign Office after he had congratulated Grey on the success of his speech in the House of Commons (3 August 1914), quoted in Harold Nicholson, Sir Arthur Nicolson, Bart. First Lord Car…
“I never had any qualm of conscience as to my motives and intentions before the war. I used to torture myself by questioning whether by more foresight or wisdom I could have prevented the war, but I have come to think that no human individual could have prevented it. Nothing could have prevented it except a change of the Prussian nature.”
Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1862–1933) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Louise Creighton (April 1918), quoted in G. M. Trevelyan, Grey of Fallodon; Being the Life of Sir Edward Grey afterwards Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1937), p. 250
“With the United States in the League of Nations, war may be prevented and armaments discouraged... Without a League of Nations, the old order of things will revive, the old consequences will recur, there will again be some great catastrophe of war in which the United States will again find itself compelled to intervene.”
Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1862–1933) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to The Times (31 January 1920), p. 13
“It is the most wretched spectacle you can imagine. I won't fight for two reasons: firstly because I have no faith in waging war with guns and cannons, and it is not part of my creed. For ten years I have been fighting a war of wits. I would not be true to myself if I acted otherwise. Secondly, I have no weapons and I won't be persuaded. So you have nothing to fear where I am concerned”
Gustave Courbet (1819–1877) first seen 1848 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote from a letter to his parents, (June 1848); as cited in Georges Riat Gustave Courbet, Parkstone International (2015).
“War! Huh? What is it good for? Well, for start? It sorts out who is the strongest out of the two countries. Also, you get to see some amazing explosions. But, there is some people out there who not only don't enjoy the war, but they try to spoil the fun for everyone else. And those chickens is called the 'U.N.' Me went to New York to meet these player-haters.”
Sacha Baron Cohen (born 1971) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "War" (28 February 2003), Da Ali G Show.
“Under the category, "Air Force aided by Hitler youth," the children wear military uniforms and become used to handling the artillery. Fifteen- and sixteen-year-old children as warriors! If the war still continues to last for a long time, perhaps infants also will be used. Total war!”
Friedrich Kellner (1885–1970) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: December 14, 1943; p. 299.
“We bow our heads in respect for those Soviet women who displayed exceptional courage in the severe time of war. Never before but during the days of the war the grandeur of spirit and the invincible will of our Soviet women, their selfless dedication, loyalty and affection to their Homeland, their boundless persistence in work and their heroism on the front manifested themselves with such strength.”
Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in V karǐni zdiǐsnenoǐ mriǐ (1979) by IE IU Kastelli, p. 54
“I shall add that only he who has decided to commit suicide can start a nuclear war in the hope of emerging a victor from it. No matter what the attacker might possess, no matter what method of unleashing nuclear war he chooses, he will not attain his aims. Retribution will inevitably ensue.”
Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Soviet Strategy and the New Military Thinking (1992) by Derek Leebaert and Timothy Dickinson, p. 68
“When we talk about "clean war," when there is no casualties, no civilians, no innocent people to be killed, that doesn't exist, no one could make it, no war in the world...”
Bashar al-Assad (born 1965) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Bill Neely (July 2016) on "NBC: Exclusive Interview with Bashar al-Assad
“War makes men barbarous because, to take part in it, one must harden oneself against all regret, all appreciation of delicacy and sensitive values. One must live as if those values did not exist, and when the war is over one has lost the resilience to return to those values.”
Cesare Pavese (1908–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“About military efforts: No one wants war, neither we nor you. Our greatest efforts have been focusing on own people and forces within our boundaries, without war, to uproot the zealot Mullahs governing our country and replace them with a secular, democratic government which respects human rights and freedom.”
Amir-Abbas Fakhravar (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hätten wir 10,3 Millionen Juden getötet, dann wäre ich befriedigt und würde sagen, gut, wir haben einen Feind vernichtet. … Ich war kein normaler Befehlsempfänger, dann wäre ich ein Trottel gewesen, sondern ich habe mitgedacht, ich war ein Idealist gewesen.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Post-war discussion with Willem Sassen in Eichmanns Memoiren. Ein kritischer Essay (Zuerst 2001) Frankfurt/M.: Fischer TB, 2004