Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,161,747 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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War
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“A religious war, the vilest form an essentially vile business can take.”
H. Beam Piper (1904–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For not by numbers of men, nor by measure of body, but by valor of soul is war to be decided.”
Belisarius (505–565) said by 565 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in 100 Decisive Battles : From Ancient Times to the Present (2001) by Paul K. Davis, p. 93; cited to the records of Procopius, in Procopius, Vol. IV, I, pp. 15-16.
“Fascism glorifies both militarism and war. It is as surely a menace to the peace as to the liberty of mankind.”
Norman Thomas (1884–1968) first seen 1865 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Pacifist's Dilemma", The Nation magazine, January 16, 1937. Quoted in Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation 1865-1990: Selections from the Independent Magazine of Politics and Culture. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press,19…
“All our rulers have said that war is unthinkable, and then we think about it almost all the time. We’ve got to make it unthinkable.”
Norman Thomas (1884–1968) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Debate with Barry Goldwater, University of Arizona campus, Tucson, Arizona, November 1961
“Jump blind and you might find yourself on the rim of a raging volcano, or smack in the middle of a battlefield during a savage war, or on a swiftly tilting ice floe in a tempest-tossed sea.”
Stephen R. Lawhead (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Some have said that what is happening now is the beginning of World War III. Fundamentalists take over countries with population flows across borders. After some time riots occur, as we see now in France. There is talk about 30,000 recruited suicide bombers.”
Carl I. Hagen (born 1944) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: After the 2005 civil unrest in France, interviewed in Aftenposten (13 November 2005)
“The coming years will prove increasingly cynical and cruel. People will definitely not slip into oblivion while hugging each other. The final stages in the life of humanity will be marked by the monstrous war of all against all: the amount of suffering will be maximal.”
Pentti Linkola (1932–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is because all my time is taken up by the war. You should keep in mind that there are times when the rifle is more important than the pen.”
Bai Chongxi (1893–1966) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bai Chongxi cited in "China’s Muslim General" on Shanghai 1937, 26 February 2013
“Why do men go to war? Is it not in some way to better their condition. All these new fangled notions that men fight for other things than their own personal advantage is pure delusion. It is the solid things of life that men are ever after, though some of them haven't the courage to admit it. What is love of country but love of it's good things?”
Arthur Desmond (1859–1929) said by 1929 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nathan Baca: If you want to be one of 100 U.S. Senators that are deciding on war powers and on ratifying treaties, which is what a Senator has to do, you have to answer these questions. Sharron Angle: Well, certainly. And I'll answer those questions when I'm the senator.”
Sharron Angle (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In February 1953, I was making a second picture with Jeff Chandler, one called War Arrow. Jeff was a real sweetheart, but acting with him was like acting with a broomstick.”
Maureen O'Hara (1920–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am not one of those who see war as a cricket match where you first give anything to defeat the opponent and then shake hands”
Douglas Bader (1910–1982) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lucas 1981, p. 95.
“Luxa and I do not serve food, we are royalty." "Yeah, well, I'm the warrior and Boots is a princess. And you two are going to get pretty hungry if you're waiting for me to serve you." "Tell him, boy. Tell him your country fought a war so you wouldn't have to answer to kings and queens.”
Suzanne Collins (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Her people were great travelers once, going from district to district to perform their music. Tam Amber remembers it, as he was about my age when the war ended and the Peacekeepers rounded up the Covey, killing all the adults and confining the kids to our district.”
Suzanne Collins (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is probably this dual code of morals which underlies the break in... many leading politicians who begin their political efforts with the desire to improve the lot of their fellow men. Once they reach the top they tend to exchange their individual code of morals for the collective one... to serve abstract ideas, which have little to do with their people's well being, and they make war.”
Albert Szent-Györgyi (1893–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think this sets a very bad precedent, the president unilaterally on his own starting war without any consent from Congress.”
Rand Paul (born 1963) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fox News, 2011-03-30
“To redeem creation the saint wages war on the entire fabric of creation, with the bare weapons of truth and love.”
Jacques Maritain (1882–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Before the conquest, the Filipinos had a literature written in characters of their own, and its manifestation in verse constituted of maxims, proverbs, boat-songs, nuptial-songs, war songs, love-songs, and the like.”
Epifanio de los Santos (1871–1928) first seen 1924 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As a quote in Quirino & Hilario's "Short History of Tagalog Literature" in Thinking for Ourselves. Manila Oriental Co. 1924, p. 56-57.
“To those who think I am suggesting that we have a war between the sexes, I say: but we've always had one.”
Phyllis Chesler (born 1940) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Women and Madness (2005), p. 345, and Women and Madness (1972), p. 297.
“Public opinion can become polarized into a bimodal distribution with only a few people in the centre and many more lying toward the extremes. But under such circumstances, democracy will probably break down into civil war, and spatial models of party competition will be irrelevant until order is restored.”
Thomas Flanagan (political scientist) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chapter 9, Invasion From The Right: Reform Party in 1993 Election, p. 142.
“The American public was lied to [about the Vietnam War] month by month by each of these five administrations [Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon]. It's a tribute to the American public that their leaders perceived that they had to be lied to. It's no tribute to us that it was so easy to fool the public.”
Daniel Ellsberg (1931–2023) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hearts and Minds (1974), a documentary of the Vietnam War [1:17:35 onward]
“[G]overnments always need enemies, even when they're not at war. If you don't have a real enemy, you make one up and spread the word. It scares the population, and when the people are scared, they tend not to step out of line.”
Paul Auster (1947–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When freedom rises from the killing floor, No lock of iron or rivet can restrain the door. And no kind of army can hope to win a war Like trying to stop the rain or still the lion`s roar, Like trying to stop the whirlwind scattering seeds and spores Like trying to stop the tin cans rapping out jailhouse semaphore.”
Joe Strummer (1952–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Joe Strummer and Bono, "46664", written for Nelson Mandela's HIV/AIDS festival in 2003.
“Engels once called the British army the most brutal army. During the Second World War, the German fascist army surpassed the barbarism of the British army. No human brain could ever imagine more diabolic and terrible cruelty then those done by the Hitler gangsters at that time. But in Korea, the Americans have far exceed the Hitlerites!”
Kim Il-sung (1912–1994) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Kim Il-sung to the Swedish communist leader Frank Baude in 1993. Quote and translated fr Mot strömmen, pg. 186: "Engels kallade en gång den brittiska armén den mest brutala armén. Under andra världskriget överträffade d…
“War is not only a contest of strength, but also a test of morality and ethics.”
Kim Il-sung (1912–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The future's cloudy and it's rainin on the poor class. Road to peace is closed, heavy traffic on the war paths”
Lupe Fiasco (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From the lottery to raise the funds for the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 to the lottery used to pay the interest on Dutch loans to the United States during the Revolutionary War, the development of the United States was funded by gambling.”
Aaron Brown (financial author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Goodbye friends. Please don't be mad at me. The literacy rate is below 5%. I haven't talked to one person who is literate. I want to make it out alive. The longest war in the history of the United States. Goodbye. I'm saddened with the current currency and job employment. I had a bully at school. Thank you. P.S. --plead the fifth!”
Jared Lee Loughner (born 1988) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Today, humanity again has to choose between peace and war, dialogue and confrontation, win-win cooperation and zero-sum game. The Chinese people firmly stand on the right side of history and the progress of human civilization. We will remain committed to the path of peaceful development, and join hands with all peoples around the world in building a community with a shared future for humanity.”
Xi Jinping (born 1953) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the commemoration to mark the 80th anniversary of the Chinese victory against Japan in the Second World War (4 September 2025)
“Ursula Le Guin has been a hero of mine for 20 years. She's done so much, and she will continue to do good even though she's gone. I honestly don't know what I would have become if it weren't for Ursula Le Guin. The first time I read "A Wizard of Earthsea" I realized how balance could be even more epic than war. Suddenly, Fantasy wasn't just wish fulfillment and grandeur, it was real and complex.”
Hank Green (born 1980) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: on Twitter (2018)
“War is smaller in scale than in recent memory, but it is far more ambiguous, intractable, and nasty. Money flows more quickly than ever, but it is still somehow manages to gather and puddle in certain places, for certain people rather then others.”
Mark Kingwell (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“During my lifetime, America has been constantly waging war against much of humanity: impoverished people mostly, in stricken places.”
John Pilger (1939–2023) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Blair has made Britain a target" The Guardian (21 September 2001).
“There is no War on Terrorism; it is the speeded up. The difference is the rampant nature of the , ensuring infinite dangers for us all.”
John Pilger (1939–2023) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The great charade" The Guardian (14 July 2002).
“If those who support aggressive war had seen a fraction of what I've seen, if they'd watched children fry to death from Napalm and bleed to death from a cluster bomb, they might not utter the claptrap they do.”
John Pilger (1939–2023) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: This Much I know" The Observer (13 November 2005).
“WikiLeaks is possibly the most exciting development in journalism in my lifetime... The truth about the Vietnam War was told when Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers. The truth about Iraq and Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia and many other flashpoints was told when WikiLeaks published the revelations of whistle-blowers.”
John Pilger (1939–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If saving human lives is the great desideratum, then there is more to be gained by the prevention of drowning, and auto wrecks than by the abolition of war.”
Brian Hayes (scientist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Empires come and go; so do ideologies and even religions, but war marches on through it all.”
Brian Hayes (scientist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The idea of sovereignty current in the English speaking world of the 1760s was scarcely more than a century old. It had first emerged during the English Civil War, in the early 1640s, and had been established as a canon of Whig political thought in the Revolution of 1688.”
Bernard Bailyn (1922–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Impossible!” Father Domenico cried, though choking with the dust of the exploded crucifix. “It is written that in that war you will at last nature conquered and chained!”
James Blish (1921–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was a student at Berkeley in the late Reagan years. We had a lot of ideas back then, big dreams about getting famous and destroying the "Beigeocracy" that we thought stifled and controlled American Letters. Everything seemed possible then: world war, literary fame ... Anyway, something Really Big, with us at the center of it all.”
“Humanity is undergoing, in the post-Cold War era, an economic and social crisis of unprecedented scale leading to the rapid impoverishment of large sectors of the world population.”
Michel Chossudovsky (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The civil war in Rwanda and other ethnic massacres were an integral part of US foreign policy, carefully staged in accordance with precise strategic and economic objectives.”
Michel Chossudovsky (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The collapse of the standard of living, engineered as result of macro-economic policy, is without precedent in Russian history: " We had more to eat during the Second World War.”
Michel Chossudovsky (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sadly, Pat Tillman lost his life in the fog of war in Afghanistan, in combat, as an Army Ranger. He lived the motto of the U.S. Army Rangers, “Rangers lead the way.” He also embodied the motto of the U.S. Army, “This we’ll defend.”
Allen West (politician) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“WE BELIEVE that RAHOWA (RAcial HOly WAr), under the victorious flag of the one and only, true and revolutionary White Racial Religion — Creativity — , is the only road to the resurrection and redemption of the White Race.”
Ben Klassen (1918–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A war is raging within me that burns everything. So I can begin again.”
Karel Appel (1921–2006) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: quote 1982 - from CF, 48; p. 83
“Oh I wish that I could paint again. Paint is an instrument without which I cannot survive for any length of time. Whenever I even think of gray, green and white, I am overcome with quivers of lust. Then I wish that this war would end and that I might paint again.”
Max Beckmann (1884–1950) first seen 1915 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote from Beckmann's letter to his first wife Minna, from the front, first World war, 1915; as quoted in Max Beckmann, Stephan Lackner, Bonfini Press Corporation, Naefels, Switzerland, 1983, p. 14
“If one perceives of it all – the entire War or even life as a whole – as a scene in the theater of 'infinity', many things are much easier to bear.”
Max Beckmann (1884–1950) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Beckmann's Diary, 12 September 1940, Amsterdam; as quoted on: 'Arts in exile'
“Thick rumors of imminent peace are in the air.. .Big spectacle with six or seven British tanks. In the afternoon, they played war once more at the Palaisplein [near Dam square in Amsterdam center] and at the Rokin [street where Beckmann lived for 8 years, as 'entartete' German artist under German occupation; The Netherlands was liberated by the Allies, 5 May 1945].”
Max Beckmann (1884–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In Max Beckmann, , Bonfini Press Corporation, Naefels, Switzerland, 1983, p. 80
“Heroism at command, this senseless violence, this accursed bombast of patriotism – how intensely I despise them! War is low and despicable, and I had rather be smitten to shreds than participate in such doings.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source