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“May I borrow your wheelbarrow? — I didn't lay down my life in World War II so that you could borrow my wheelbarrow”
Adrian Mitchell (1932–2008) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ten Ways to Avoid Lending Your Wheelbarrow to Anybody", from Adrian Mitchell's Greatest Hits (1991).
“The Führer confirms my impressions of yesterday. He would like an understanding with Great Britain. He knows that war with the British will be hard and bloody, and knows also that people everywhere today are averse to bloodshed.”
Franz Halder (1884–1972) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: July 14, 1940 diary entry, quoted in "Their Finest Hour" - Page 230 - by Winston Churchill - History - 1986.
“What mighty ills have not been done by woman! Who was ’t betrayed the Capitol?—A woman! Who lost Mark Antony the world?—A woman! Who was the cause of a long ten years’ war, And laid at last old Troy in ashes?—Woman! Destructive, damnable, deceitful woman!”
Thomas Otway (1652–1685) first seen 1680 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Orphan (1680), Act iii. Sc. 1. Compare: "O woman, woman! when to ill thy mind/ Is bent, all hell contains no fouler fiend", Alexander Pope, Homer’s Odyssey, book xi., line 531.
“No one laughs at God in a hospital, No one laughs at God in a war, No one's laughing at God when they're starving or freezing or so very poor...”
Regina Spektor (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What can I say? If I knew in 1934 what I know now, I would have remained in the navy. I didn't know that this was going to happen and I didn't know that Germany was going to lose the war and be in ruins.”
Oswald Pohl (1892–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, it was war - I could not have carried on as an administrative officer if I had let myself be swayed emotionally by my feelings.”
Oswald Pohl (1892–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war.”
Nathaniel Lee (1653–1692) said by 1692 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My knowledge of pain, learned with the sabre, taught me not to be afraid. And just as in dueling when you must concentrate on your enemy's cheek, so, too, in war. You cannot waste time on feinting and sidestepping. You must decide on your target and go in.”
Otto Skorzeny (1908–1975) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comparing his dueling days with commando tactics, as quoted in Skorzeny (1972) by Charles Whiting, p. 17.
“By 1956, out of all the Cultural Avatars and Vectors available in 1950, THE GIRL had won. Authority. (And they had it, those girls; no one today has it.) They’d won the war, in a way.”
George W. S. Trow (1943–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If we had fifty Eichmann's, we would have won the war.”
Heinrich Müller (1900–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: About Adolf Eichmann's devotion. Quoted in "And the Crooked Shall be Made Straight" - Page 37 - by Jacob Robinson - Jews - 1965
“Ethical obligation has to subordinate itself to the totalitarian nature of war.”
Karl Brandt (1904–1948) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1947. Quoted in article "Ethics of Nazi doctors analyzed in telecast" by Joanna Arnold, 10/17/07
“We do not want a new war. But we are not afraid of it if mobilisation of German power should prove to be the ultimate means of restoring German freedom.”
Gregor Strasser (1892–1934) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Germany from Defeat to Conquest, 1913-1933", Władysław Wszebór Kulski - History - (1945)
“The risks of war present no danger to those who are well prepared for it in advance and who are mindful of their place in the nation's defences. Confusion and panic usually appear wherever there is no adequate organizaton or appropriate leadership at a time of grim trials.”
Georgy Zhukov (1896–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While thinking when sober, our success at reaching our goals by using the First Baltic Front troops, the Memel operation, it can't be disregarded, that they [the troops] not only honorably accomplished their powerful strategic operation, but also an infusion of victory for the Soviet armed forces and an entrance into the final stages of the war.”
Hovhannes Bagramyan (1897–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "I. C. Bagramyan: A Photo Album About A Soviet Marshal" - Yerevan - 1987
“I did not decide to become an officer to start a military career. I still wanted to be an agronomist and work in some remote corner of Russia after the war. I could not suppose that my country would change, and I would.”
Aleksandr Vasilevsky (1895–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "The matter of my whole life" - by Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky - Moscow, Politizdat, 1978.
“By seizing the formerly little-known Height 102.0 – the Mamayev Hill - the Red Army fought its way to the fascists' den – Berlin. We are proud to say that our victory in Stalingrad radically changed the whole situation in the Second World War. And this victory meant that our Motherland had withstood one of the most difficult tests in its history.”
Aleksandr Vasilevsky (1895–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "The Voice of Russia," Copyright 2002.
“When I first joined my local library, I read endlessly. I immediately headed for the fantasy section, fairy tales, you name it. As a teen-ager, I read every novel by Kenneth Roberts, who wrote historical novels about the Revolutionary War period. My mother used to read to me. Heidi was one of my childhood favorites.”
Richard Matheson (1926–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There can't be two smart peoples in the world. We're going to win the war, so only the Aryan race will stand.”
Josef Mengele (1911–1979) said by 1979 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Defy the darkness: A Tale of Courage in the Shadow of Mengele (2000) by Joe Rosenblum and David Kohn, p. 193
“We should have known better after the first war. The French came close to collapse in 1917; der Englander, even after our 1918 offensive, never.”
Gerd von Rundstedt (1875–1953) said by 1953 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "Crossroads of Modern Warfare" - by Drew Middleton - History - 1983
“It is necessary to keep in mind the possibility of simultaneously conducting two, if not three, offensive operations of various fronts on a theater of war with the intention of strategically shaking the enemy's entire combat capability as extensively as possible.”
Semyon Timoshenko (1895–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "The Evolution of Soviet Operational Art" - Page 89 - by David M. Glantz, Harold Steven Orenstein - 1995
“The Russians have learned much in this hard war in which the Finns fought with heroism.”
Semyon Timoshenko (1895–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "The Winter War: The Soviet Attack on Finland" - Page 146 - by Eloise Engle, Eloise Paananen, Lauri Paananen - History - 1992
“Peoples of all the warring countries are trying to put an end to the war, to establish peace. And we believe that they will get peace. And the sooner they get peace the better.”
Semyon Timoshenko (1895–1970) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "The American review on the Soviet Union" - Page 10 - by American Russian Institute - 1938
“The truth is that if Israel were to put down its arms there would be no more Israel. If the Arabs were to put down their arms there would be no more war.”
Benjamin Netanyahu (born 1949) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the Knesset at the end of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, as quoted in "Olmert: We will continue to pursue Hizbullah leaders" in The Globes (14 August 2006)
“What is important about this meeting. and it is not in secret, because there are many of those – is that this is an open meeting with representatives of leading Arab countries, that are sitting down together with Israel in order to advance the common interest of war with Iran.”
Benjamin Netanyahu (born 1949) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 10:15 AM 13 February 2019, affirmed by City News and Fox News and Montreal Gazette and NBC News and Washington Post.
“On Christmas night, I danced with all kinds of fellows with pimples and all kinds of sores. I suddenly felt, ‘What is this being shy? I have to give myself, I just felt I didn't want to be shy, I didn't want to draw away, but give myself, I mean, not physically, but be there. It was a great lesson also for me, this tour through Africa and Italy during the war.”
Luise Rainer (1910–2014) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Being on Ascension Island in 1944
“I personally believe that war is highly unlikely.”
Kliment Voroshilov (1881–1969) first seen 1927 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: June 9, 1927. Quoted in "Forging Stalin's Army: Marshal Tukhachevsky and the Politics of Military Innovation" - Page 57 - by Sally W. Stoecker - 1999
“It would be superfluous in me to point out to your Lordship that this is war.”
Charles Francis Adams Sr. (1807–1886) first seen 1863 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dispatch to John Russell at a period of diplomatic tensions between the US and Britain during the US Civil War (5 September 1863); Correspondence concerning Claims against Great Britain, vol. 2 (Washington, D.C., 1870),…
“When you recognize this, you also realize that you are now free to give up this futile conflict, this inner state of war. (Ch 6)”
Eckhart Tolle (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We do not have the right to forget that reactionary imperialism exists and its forces actively operate in the world, that they encourage the arms race and that they try to restore the spirit of the Cold War.”
Andrei Grechko (1903–1976) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "The Role of Nuclear Forces in Current Soviet Strategy" - Page 53 - by Leon Gouré, Foy D. Kohler, Mose L. Harvey - 1974
“Attention must be given to the study of the given operations. Their study with due allowance made for the existing means of warfare will make it possible to reach a number of useful theoretical conclusions for conducting operations in the initial phase of a war.”
Matvei Zakharov (1898–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Timely Lessons of History: The Manchurian Model for Soviet Strategy" (1976) by John Despres, Lilita Dzirkals and Barton Whaley, p. 4
“The people think of wealth and power as the greatest fate, But in this world, a spell of health is the best state. What men call sovereignty is worldly strife and constant war; Worship of God is the highest throne, the happiest of all estates.”
Suleiman the Magnificent (1494–1566) first seen 1453 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Mansel, Philip, Constantinople: city of the world's desire 1453-1924 (1995), p. 84
“We are watching the Germans closely; we are not forgetting what they did to us during the war.”
Anastas Mikoyan (1895–1978) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Soviet Foreign Policy Toward Western Europe" (1978) by George Ginsburgs and Alvin Z. Rubinstein, p. 105
“We cannot, after all, ignore the fact that the cold war is being fostered from the U.S. No one will deny that American bases around our country are not being reduced; in fact they are being strengthened. All of this is bound to cause suspicion, and it is bound to cause the Soviet leaders to be cautious and vigilant.”
Anastas Mikoyan (1895–1978) said by 1978 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the crisis of 1940 our leaders continually reminded us of those resources in the past which can be drawn upon to fortify a nation at war. While plunging into a sea of changes, novelties and inventions, England resumed contact with her traditions and threw out ropes to the preceding generations, as though in time of danger it was a good thing not to lose touch with the rest of the convoy.”
Herbert Butterfield (1900–1979) said by 1979 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Since the 17th century England has had a happier fate than most of the countries of continental Europe. In particular she has been spared the most violent cataclysms and the bitterness of civil war.”
Herbert Butterfield (1900–1979) said by 1979 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If we are to survive, we must not accept the official indoctrination of the purpose of nuclear 'power' stations, radiation health risks, the 'need' for further nuclear weapons and the reality of nuclear war.”
Martin Ryle (1918–1984) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p 29 of Towards the Nuclear Holocaust (1980) Menard Press, London.
“It would be consistent and proper for us to join the war for democratic freedom, only if we would likewise be assured that democratic freedom in theory as well as in practice.”
Aung San (1915–1947) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address delivered at the meeting of East and West Association held on August 29, 1945, at the City Hall of Rangoon
“The longer the war drags on, more and more civilians are getting killed.”
Sergei Akhromeyev (1923–1991) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "Iraq Rebuffs Iran on Peace Initiative", pA01, February 11, 1991, Rick Atkinson and Barton Gellman, Washington Post.
“Harding was elected because he promised normalcy. After war, men were tired. They wanted to crawl back into a 1912 womb. They didn’t want experiments that might upset their lives further.”
Henry Kuttner (1915–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's coming soon and soon, mother, it's nearer every day, When only men who work and sweat will have a word to say; When all who earn their honest bread in every land and soil Will claim the Brotherhood of Man, the Comradeship of Toil; When we, the Workers, all demand: `What are we fighting for?' . . . Then, then we'll end that stupid crime, that devil's madness -- War.”
Robert Service (1874–1958) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ballads of a Bohemian (1921), Michael
“Anthropologists have promulgated the myth of the peaceful savage so effectively that when actual deaths by war are tabulated for prestate simple societies, one is astonished by how such a notion can continue to be taught to students.”
Lloyd deMause (1931–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It should be realised that men will take enormous risks rather than be bored. War has been used before now to prevent a bored populace from getting into mischief, at the expense of its rulers.”
J. B. Priestley (1894–1984) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Public and the Idea of Peace", in Challenge to Death, edited by Storm Jameson, E. P. Dutton & Company, Incorporated (1935).
“Our great-grand-children, when they learn how we began this war by snatching glory out of defeat, and then swept on to victory, may also learn how the little holiday steamers made an excursion to hell and came back glorious.”
J. B. Priestley (1894–1984) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Postscript to the News", broadcast on BBC Radio (5 June 1940); published in The Listener (13 June 1940).
“Soldiers were and will remain soldiers. They fight, carrying out their duty, not thinking about the reasons, true to their military oath. And the beginning and the end of war is the business of politicians, to whom the situation at the front dictates these or other decisions.”
Friedrich Paulus (1890–1957) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To A. Schmidt and others - February 4th, 1943. Quoted in "Report of the Special Section of the Don Front NKVD to Special Sections Department of NKVD USSR
“John Howard's credibility on the entire Iraq war has been torpedoed by John Howard's own intelligence agency.”
Kevin Rudd (born 1957) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Criticism of Australia's involvement in the 2003 Iraq War, and that of the Office of National Assessments.
“Let every dirty, lousy tramp arm himself with a revolver or a knife, and lay in wait on the steps of the palaces of the rich and stab or shoot the owners as they come out. Let us kill them without mercy, and let it be a war of extermination.”
Lucy Parsons (1851–1942) first seen 1885 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement appearing in the Chicago Tribune in 1885, as quoted in "What’s Missing From Black History Month" by Jon Hochshartner in The Red Phoenix (10 February 2012)
“For example, Italy and Soviet Russia, superficially considered, each seem to constitute a united people. But any scrutinising glance will perceive there tensions which will disintegrate the peoples of these two States immediately the outbreak of war permits them to explode.”
Erich Ludendorff (1865–1937) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Der Totalkrieg (Berlin, 1933), quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1941), p. 139
“During the years of the so-called peace, politics—total politics—have only a meaning in as much as they prepare for total war.”
Erich Ludendorff (1865–1937) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Der Totalkrieg (Berlin, 1933), quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1941), p. 357
“Forecasting the future of technology is risky. Predictions tend to be linear whereas technical advances come in quantum jumps from paradigm shifts. After the second World War, forecasters in electronics [who did not foresee the transistor] would have linearly [and incorrectly] foretasted breakthroughs in better vacuum tube reliability from, for example, improved filament chemistry.”
Robert J. Marks II (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The goal of ending poverty is within reach and everyone can contribute to it by getting involved or supporting organizations that are already working to give the poor a better life... No one should be doomed to a life of poverty, whether by birth or as a consequence of war.”