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“America also has people who have come to terms with the war and those who have not. The same can be said of Japan. Those who have come to terms with the war welcomed us very warmly and have come to understand Japan very well.”
Inejirō Asanuma (1898–1960) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Maa-Maa Koji's Discourse: The Path I Have Walked (1950) (reflections after a visit to the United States as part of a parliamentary delegation)
“[on critics of the Philippine drug war] Prangka lang ako. You can criticize us to high heavens but I can tell you straight sa inyong mga mata, 'yung mga critic, sabihan ko kayo, ingrato kayo. Alam ko nakikinabang din kayo sa peace and order na idinulot ng war on drugs.”
Ronald dela Rosa (born 1962) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Source: ABS-CBN News, (October 3, 2017)
“The intimacy of civil war, its political intensity, and its fundamentally social quality, plus the acute accessibility to attack on all sides of everyone’s weak points can make them particularly savage and miasmic. ... It is a form of war in which people suffer raw cruelty and fanaticism not for what they have done but for what they are.”
David Betz (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nobody wants to go to war. We are here to work out the modalities for dialogue with the coup leaders in order to avert war.”
Abdulsalami Abubakar (born 1942) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Businessday NG, 2023
“We were a “can do” people, who accomplished whatever we set out to do. We had licked the Depression, turned the tide in World War II, and rebuilt Europe after the war. ... Freedom Summer was an audacious undertaking consistent with the exaggerated sense of importance and potency shared by the privileged members of America’s postwar generation.”
Doug McAdam (born 1951) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Freedom Summer (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), pp. 14-15
“To understand non-state terror today, we need to understand the historical relationship between state terrorism and non-state terrorism. There is a clear and discernible historical dynamic: during the Cold War, state terror has been parent to non-state terror and, having given rise to non-state terror, it has then proceeded to mimic it - as, for instance, in the "War against Terror".”
Mahmood Mamdani (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On the eve of Sierra Leone’s Independence Day, former Liberian President Charles Taylor was found guilty of war crimes committed during that country’s civil war. But does the verdict represent a major victory for Sierra Leoneans beyond its symbolic value?”
Robtel Neajai Pailey wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That is the way of the wickedness called war. It eats us all. In the end, it and it alone is the victor, no matter what the lie called history says. The god of War, Mars the Magnificent and Tragic, always wins.”
Stephen Hunter (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war.”
Winston Churchill (disputed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want war. To me all means will be right. My motto is not "Don't, whatever you do, annoy the enemy." My motto is "Destroy him by all and any means." I am the one who will wage the war!”
Adolf Hitler (disputed) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Hitler and Nazism (1961) by Louis Leo Snyder, p. 66
“I ought to have seized the initiative in 1938 instead of allowing myself to be forced into war in 1939; for war was, in any case, unavoidable. However, you can hardly blame me if the British and the French accepted at Munich every demand I made of them!”
Adolf Hitler (disputed) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 14 February 1945.
“Many of these were not prisoners of war, and redeemed from savage conquerors, as some plead; and they who were such prisoners, the English, who promote the war for that very end, are the guilty authors of their being so; and if they were redeemed, as is alleged, they would owe nothing to the redeemer but what he paid for them.”
Thomas Paine (disputed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men are at war with each other because each man is at war with himself.”
George S. Patton (misattributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What if they gave a war and no one came? Then the war will come to you.”
Bertolt Brecht (misattributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”
Leon Trotsky (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In peace, prepare for war. In war, prepare for peace.”
Sun Tzu (misattributed) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sometimes erroneously prepended to the opening line "The art of war is of vital importance to the State", but appears to be a variation of the Roman motto "Si vis pacem, para bellum". It is not clear who first misattrib…
“I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing And the taste of war I know so very well Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising Their guns on fire as we sail into hell I have no fear of death, it brings no sorrow But how bitter will be this last farewell For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly More dearly than the spoken word can tell.”
Roger Whittaker (misattributed) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Last Farewell" — though made famous as set to the music and vocal performances of Whittaker, the lyrics of this song were written by Ron A. Webster, a silversmith from Birmingham, England. · 1975 performance · 1993 …
“A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war: wide-awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. Going to knowledge or going to war in any other manner is a mistake, and whoever makes it might never live to regret it.”
Carlos Castaneda (1925–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thus for ane Dow of Dunbar drew I this Dyte, Dowit with ane Dowglass, and boith war thei dowis.”
Richard Holland (1415–1482) first seen 1450 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Buke of the Howlat (c. 1450), ii. 400-403. Dedication (to the wife of a Douglas).
“Preventive war is like committing suicide for fear of death.”
Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898) first seen 1329 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted as a remark of Bismark without quotation marks, in Thinking About the Unthinkable in the 1980s (1984) by , p. 136, a paraphrase of what Bismarck told the Reichstag on Feb. 9, 1876. Referring to March 1875, when t…
“Banks are the temples of America. This is a holy war. Our economy is our religion. (p.8)”
Giannina Braschi (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It will say just about everything I have ever had to say, or will ever have to say, on the human condition of war and what it means to us, as against what we claim it means to us.”
James Jones (1921–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introduction for his unfinished novel, Whistle (1978) the third part of his war trilogy (which was completed by Willie Morris); quoted in TIME magazine (13 March 1978)
“This book is cheerfully dedicated to those greatest and most heroic of all human endeavors, WAR and WARFARE; may they never cease to give us the pleasure, excitement and adrenal stimulation that we need, or provide us with the heroes, the presidents and the leaders, the monuments and museums which we erect to them in the name of PEACE.”
James Jones (1921–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Especially in the beginning of the war, the guys who became good soldiers, and good infantry men sort of had to accept that they were dead — that they weren't going to get out of it. The statistics were so much their enemy that there wouldn't be much chance that in four or five years, that they would survive it. Some did... and in fact most of the men who got in combat did survive it.”
James Jones (1921–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“War its thousands slays, Peace its ten thousands.”
Beilby Porteus (1731–1809) said by 1809 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By the end of the Second World War, every American past the age of 40 had been subjected to some 25 years of anti-communist radiation, the average incubation period needed to produce a malignancy. Anti-communism had developed a life of its own.”
William Blum (1933–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The foregoing slice of American history must be taken into account if one is to make sense of the vagaries of American foreign policy since the end of World War II, specifically the record, as presented in this book, of what the US military and the CIA and other branches of the US government have done to the peoples of the world.”
William Blum (1933–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Title 18 of the US Code declares it to be a crime to launch a "military or naval expedition or enterprise" from the United States against a country with which the United States is not (officially) at war.”
William Blum (1933–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If Black people had simply accepted a status of economic and political inferiority, the mob murders would probably have subsided. But because vast numbers of ex-slaves refused to discard their dreams of progress, more than ten thousand lynchings occurred during the three decades following the war.”
Angela Davis (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is something for which Lincoln should be applauded, I believe. And it is that he was shrewd enough to know that the only hope of winning the Civil War resided in creating the opportunity to fight for their own freedom, and that was the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation.”
Angela Davis (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the sanguinary struggle with capitalism, the working class cannot refrain from inflicting the last extremity of punishment upon its declared enemies. While the civil war continues, the abolition of the death penalty is impossible.”
Nikolai Bukharin (1888–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Legs will always be the biggest problem. That’s always the case. Legs, legs, legs. For every arm I’ve amputated here, I’ve probably taken ten legs. Puzzling, isn’t it? . . . I think human legs * simply weren't designed for modern war. - Dr Ahmet Talzani”
Scott Anderson (novelist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ah well, these little mysteries, morbid curiosities, war is full of them. - Dr Ahmet Talzani”
Scott Anderson (novelist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We must not be squeamish when we learn that a total of 17,000 have been shot. We are now duty bound to hold together, we who are gathered together here figure on Mr. Roosevelt's list of war criminals. I have the honour of being Number One.”
Hans Frank (1900–1946) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech on the need to exterminate the Poles, January 25, 1943, quoted in "The Trial of the Germans" - Page 439 - by Eugene Davidson - History - 1997
“The Pact of Munich is signed. Czechoslovakia as a power is out. The genius of the Führer and his determination not to shun even a world war have again won victory without the use of force. The hope remains that the incredulous, the weak and the doubters have been converted and will remain that way.”
Alfred Jodl (1890–1946) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Munich Conference (29 September 1938), as cited in William Lawrence Shirer The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (1990), p. 422.
“Basically, I exploited the phenomenon of the technician’s often blind devotion to his task. Because of what seems to be the moral neutrality of technology, these people were without any scruples about their activities. The more technical the world imposed on us by the war, the more dangerous was this indifference of the technician to the direct consequences of his anonymous activities.”
Albert Speer (1905–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the burning and devastated cities, we daily experienced the direct impact of war. It spurred us to do our utmost...the bombing and the hardships that resulted from them did not weaken the morale of the populace.”
Albert Speer (1905–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Developments since the rise of National Socialism make it probable that the continent will be freed from its Jewish destroyers of people and exploiters forever, and the German example after the German victory in World War II will also serve to bring about the destruction of the Jewish world tormentors on other continents.”
Julius Streicher (1885–1946) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Der Stürmer (6 January 1944), quoted in The Trial of the Germans, p. 57 - by Eugene Davidson - History - 1997
“Only the Jews had remained victorious after the dreadful days of World War I. These were the people of whom Christ said, "Its father is the devil.”
Julius Streicher (1885–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "Anti-Judaism and the Fourth Gospel" - Page 14 - by Reimund Bieringer, Didier Pollefeyt, Frederique Vandecasteele-Vanneuville - Religion - 2001
“I know for a fact that this idea of the Jews causing the war and the Jews being so all important is nonsense. But that was Hitler's idea, and... was pure fantasy. As I say, Hitler is a riddle to me and will always remain so.”
Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What would have become of our country today if the Fuehrer had not united us under National Socialism? Split parties, beset with the spreading poison of Jewry, and vulnerable to it because we lacked the defense of our present uncompromising ideology, we would long since have succumbed under the burden of this war and delivered ourselves up to the enemy who would have mercilessly destroyed us.”
Karl Dönitz (1891–1980) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: March 12, 1944 (Heroes' Day)
“To think of Russians sitting on a bench in Nuremberg, trying German leaders! The Russians sank a German boat with men, women, and children aboard. I know of the case. But is that investigated? You Americans weren't completely without fault, either. You armed merchant boats before the U.S.A. was in the war.”
Karl Dönitz (1891–1980) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Leon Goldensohn, May 2, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004.
“By placing these people with foreign ideas in camps, German blood was saved. Would it have been better to have a civil war?”
Karl Dönitz (1891–1980) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Leon Goldensohn, May 2, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004.
“I'm iron. I lasted through ten years of war, and now I can last through this. It's true, it's not good for the nerves.”
Sepp Dietrich (1892–1966) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Leon Goldensohn, February 28, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" - by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004 - Page 280
“There was no Geneva Convention. But we didn't shoot Russians either. Where would we get three million prisoners if we shot all the Russians? Propaganda! You can't open your mouth, even in the biggest democracy. Do you think it's so nice to sit in prison after ten years of war for the Fatherland? If I would be God, I would do it differently!”
Sepp Dietrich (1892–1966) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Leon Goldensohn, February 28, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" - by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004
“But it is a well-known maxim of war that whoever tries to hold on to everything at once, finishes up by holding nothing at all.”
Erich von Manstein (1887–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One thing I fear, that you Americans will do the same thing that you did after the last war. I mean that you will pull out of here and leave Europe, then Russia will have her way. Private enterprise and individual rights will be lost just as much as under a Nazi government. Frightful!”
Hjalmar Schacht (1877–1970) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Leon Goldensohn (27 January 1946). Quoted in "The Nuremberg Interviews" - by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004.
“I have never believed in war. It is a crime against humanity whether you win or lose. I just read an article in this magazine I have in my hands that one day the moon will fall on the earth, but it is my feeling that until then, we should try to make the world a better place to live in.”
Hjalmar Schacht (1877–1970) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Leon Goldensohn (9 June 1946). Quoted in "The Nuremberg Interviews" - by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004.
“An Atheist knows that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist knows that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated.”
Madalyn Murray O'Hair (1919–1995) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: MURRAY v. CURLETT, Petition for Relief, 1959
“So if despite that, Hitler prepared war, he perpetrated the greatest lie and betrayal in the world. This trial clearly shows that Hitler did just that. I have no hesitation to state very clearly that Hitler was a liar and a betrayer on a mammoth scale. Even without the death of the 5 million extermination camp victims, Hitler would still go down in history as the greatest villain that ever lived.”
Hans Fritzsche (1900–1953) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Leon Goldensohn, April 6, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" - by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004