Antiwar Quotes

Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. ~ Hermann Goering, President of the Reichstag, Nazi Party, and Luftwaffe Commander in Chief.

Never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. ~ Winston Churchill

Imperialism is an institution under which one nation asserts the right to seize the land or at least to control the government or resources of another people. ~ John T. Flynn

The great error of nearly all studies of war... has been to consider war as an episode in foreign policies, when it is an act of interior politics... ~ Simone Weil

We may extend our dominion over the whole continent...but be assured it will be at the price of our free institutions. ~ Rep. William Waters Boyce

I hate war for its consequences, for the lies it lives on and propagates, for the undying hatreds it arouses... ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

Before the war is ended, the war party assumes the divine right to denounce and silence all opposition to war as unpatriotic and cowardly. ~ Senator Robert M. La Follette

After every ''victory'' you have more enemies. ~ Jeanette Winterson

The winds that blow our billions away return burdened with themes of scorn and dispraise. ~ Garet Garrett

[T]he essence of so-called war prosperity; it enriches some by what it takes from others. It is not rising wealth but a shifting of wealth and income. ~ Ludwig von Mises

Our children are not born to hate, they are raised to hate. ~ Thomas della Peruta

Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same. ~ Marie Beyle

I guess every generation is doomed to fight its war...suffer the loss of the same old illusions, and learn the same old lessons on its own. ~ Phillip Caputo

I hate those men who would send into war youth to fight and die for them; the pride and cowardice of those old men, making their wars that boys must die. ~ Mary Roberts Rinehart

Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. ~ George Washington

The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. ~ Major Ralph Peters, US Military

For me war has become a flat, black depression without highlights, a revulsion of the mind and an exhaustion of the spirit. ~ Ernie Pyle

Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official... ~ Theodore Roosevelt

The worst crimes were dared by a few, willed by more and tolerated by all. ~ Tacitus

War's a game, which, were their subjects wise, Kings would not play at. ~ William Cowper

Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. ~ Hugo Black, Supreme Court Justice

War is fear cloaked in courage. ~ General William Westmoreland

Because I do it with one small ship, I am called a terrorist. You do it with a whole fleet and are called an emperor. ~ A pirate, from St. Augustine's "City of God"

What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make some gain that you believe to be to your advantage. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

We are the ones responsible to determine whether the war that our marines, soldiers and airmen are fighting in is worth the cause... ~ Scott Ritter

I am not blaming those who are resolved to rule, only those who show an even greater readiness to submit. ~Thucydides

The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous. ~ Frederick Douglass

Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it. ~ Noam Chomsky

It is far easier to make war than peace. ~ Georges Clemenceau

The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions. ~ Robert Lynd

Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions. ~ Ulysses S. Grant

It would be easier to subjugate the entire universe through force than the minds of a single village. ~Voltaire

Those who give up essential liberties for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. ~ James Madison

War doesn't make boys men, it makes men dead. ~ Ken Gillespie

An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot. ~ Thomas Paine

Modern war appears as a struggle led by all the State apparatuses and their general staffs against all men old enough to bear arms... ~ Simone Weil

Every nation has its war party. It is not the party of democracy. It is the party of autocracy. It seeks to dominate absolutely. ~ Senator Robert M. La Follette

It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners. ~ Albert Camus

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it. ~ Edward R. Murrow

Wars teach us not to love our enemies, but to hate our allies. ~ W. L. George

The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject. ~ Marcus Aurelius

Man was/is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One who believes himself the master of others is nonetheless a greater slave than they. ~ Jean Jaques Rousseau

The dangerous patriot...drifts into chauvinism and exhibits blind enthusiasm for military actions. ~Colonel James A. Donovan, Marine Corps

It is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Our country is now geared to an arms economy bred in an artificually induced psychosis of war hysteria and an incessant propaganda of fear. ~ General Douglas MacArthur

Paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people...

Even if we are spared destruction by war, our lives will have to change if we want to save life from self-destruction. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The statesman who yields to war fever...is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. ~ Winston Churchill

It is always more valuable to report the truth. ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act. ~ George Orwell

What an immense mass of evil must result...from allowing men to assume the right of anticipating what may happen. ~ Leo Tolstoy

Peace is constructed, not fought for. ~ Brent Davis

Love of power, operating through greed and through personal ambition, was the cause of all these evils.

~Thucydides

It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood...War is hell. ~ General William Tecumseh Sherman

It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. ~ Voltaire

The worst barbarity of war is that it forces men collectively to commit acts against which individually they would revolt with their whole being. ~ Ellen Key

some men...in order to prevent the supposed intentions of their adversaries, have committed the most enormous cruelties... ~ Clearchus, in Xenophon

[War] might be avoidable were more emphasis placed on the training to social interest, less on the attainment of egotistical grandeur. ~ Lydia Sicher

Look at you in war...There has never been a just one, never an honorable one, on the part of the instigator of the war. ~ Mark Twain: from "The Mysterious Stranger," published 1910.

If, finally, violence meets with violence, we have confirmation of the age old adage that war though it kills many men, makes many more men evil. ~ Fritz Medicus

It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so... ~ Robert A. Heinlein

Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice. ~ Lord Acton

Military justice is to justice what military music is to music. ~ Groucho Marx

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ~ Margaret Mead

No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. ~ James Madison

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. ~ Issac Asimov ( The character Salvor Hardin speaks these words in Asimov's "Foundation.")

Violence as a way of gaining power...is being camouflaged under the guise of tradition, national honor [and] national security... ~ Alfred Adler

A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

War is not the continuation of politics with different means, it is the greatest mass-crime perpetrated on the community of man. ~ Alfred Adler

It is always easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.

We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children. ~ Jimmy Carter

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be. ~ Thomas Jefferson

The dangerous patriot...is a defender of militarism and its ideals of war and glory. ~ Colonel James A. Donovan, Marine Corps

The next war ... may well bury Western civilization forever. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

War is the continuation of politics by other means. ~ Karl Von Clausewitz

Is it not a strange blindness on our part to teach publicly the techniques of warfare and to reward with medals those who prove to be the most adroit killers? ~ Marquis de Sade

To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war. ~ Otto von Bismarck

...Uncalled-for aggression arouses the hatred of the civilian population... ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor. ~ George Orwell

Respect for the rights of others means peace. ~ Benito Juárez

War is not a word, it's an acronym for "Wasting Another's Resources." ~ Ramman Kenoun

Let us become inspired by inherent beauty, and not impassioned by manufactured hate. ~ Nima Shirali, Middle Eastern Reconciliation Forum

War remains the decisive human failure. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith

That we are to stand by the president, right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

All nations want peace, but they want a peace that suits them. ~ Admiral Sir John Fisher

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. ~ Thomas Jefferson

The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding. ~ Albert Camus

Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth. ~ Albert Einstein

All mankind...being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.
~John Locke

Today the real test of power is not capacity to make war but capacity to prevent it.

Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule – and both commonly succeed, and are right. ~ H.L. Mencken

One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one. ~ Agatha Christie

I hate war...for the dictatorships it puts in the place of democracies, and for the starvation that stalks after it. ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none. ~ Thomas Jefferson

War is a racket. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. ~ General Smedley Butler

War is not its own end, except in some catastrophic slide into absolute damnation. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

The guns and the bombs, the rockets and the warships, are all symbols of human failure. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap. ~ Ronald Reagan

What is more immoral than war? ~ Marquis de Sade

There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. ~ General Smedley Butler

Total war is no longer war waged by all members of one national community against all those of another. It is total...because it may well involve the whole world. ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

Dulce bellum inexpertis (War is delightful to the inexperienced). ~ Erasmus, the 16th-century scholar

Where is the justice of political power if it executes the murderer and jails the plunderer? ~ Kahlil Gibran

Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

We first fought...in the name of religion, then Communism, and now in the name of drugs and terrorism. Our excuses for global domination always change. ~ Serj Tankian

People do not make wars; governments do. ~ Ronald Reagan

Any forces that would impose their will on other nations will certainly face defeat. ~ General Vo Nguyen Giap (Vietnam)

Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing. ~ Ronald Reagan

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president...is morally treasonable to the American public. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

To declare that the end justifies the means, to declare that the government may commit crimes, would bring terrible retribution. ~ Justice Louis D. Brandeis

Political language ... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. ~ George Orwell

Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens. ~ Plato

The Department of Defense is the behemoth...With an annual budget larger than the gross domestic product of Russia, it is an empire. ~ The 9/11 Commission Report

This world of ours...must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor.

One day the end of the world will come as a result of a 'justified' war. ~ Mikhail Gofman, Antiwar.com reader

Our enemies...never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we. ~ George W. Bush

There should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences before resorting to combat.

~Jimmy Carter

War is the statesman's game, the priest's delight, the lawyer's jest, the hired assassin's trade.

~Percy Bysshe Shelley

War is organized murder and torture against our brothers. ~ Alfred Adler

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter... ~ Winston Churchill

Chauvinism is a proud and bellicose form of patriotism...which equates the national honor with military victory. ~ Colonel James A. Donovan, Marine Corps

Social order at the expense of liberty is hardly a bargain. ~ Marquis de Sade

War prosperity is like the prosperity that an earthquake or a plague brings. ~ Ludwig von Mises

Criticism in a time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government. ~ Sen. Robert Taft, (R) Ohio

In times of peace, the war party insists on making preparation for war. As soon as prepared for, it insists on making war. ~ Senator Robert M. La Follette

In the eyes of empire builders men are not men but instruments. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

There is neither rank nor station nor prerogative in the republic of the grave. ~ John James Ingalls

Cruelty must be whitewashed by a moral excuse, and pretense of reluctance. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Together we must learn how to compose difference, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.

~Dwight D. Eisenhower

It is finer to bring one noble human being into the world and rear it well...than to kill ten thousand.

~Olive Schreiner

The evils of government are directly proportional to the tolerance of the people. ~ Frank Kent

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. ~ Jose Narosky

What a cruel thing is war...to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world. ~ Robert E. Lee

...to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest. ~ Thomas Jefferson

War paralyzes your courage and deadens the spirit of true manhood. ~ Alexander Berkman

There is but one evil, war. All the other proclaimed evils such as hate, greed, descrimination, and jealousy are only sub-categories of it. ~ Jose Barreiro

Emphasis on military prowess is an indication of philosophical poverty. ~ Henk Middelraad

War brings out the most negative emotional human responses on both sides. ~ Henk Middelraad

I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. ~ James Baldwin

Don't regard yourself as a guardian of freedom unless you respect and preserve the rights of people you disagree with... ~ Gerard K. O'Neill

Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. ~ James Bryce

Don't talk to me about atrocities; all war is an atrocity. ~ Lord Kitchener (Horatio Herbert)

War is a way of shattering to pieces...materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable and...too intelligent. ~ George Orwell

The State thrives on war – unless, of course, it is defeated and crushed – expands on it, glories in it. ~ Murray Rothbard

Old men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die. ~ Herbert C. Hoover

The greater the state, the more wrong and cruel its patriotism, and the greater is the sum of suffering upon which its power is founded. ~ Leo Tolstoy

How could man rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of men? ~ Lao Tzu

Society has arisen out of the works of peace; the essence of society is peacemaking. ~ Ludwig von Mises

A people free to choose will always choose peace. ~ Ronald Reagan

Any excuse will serve a tyrant. ~ Aesop

War vies with magic in its efforts to get something for nothing... ~ Lewis Mumford

Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. ~ Mark Twain

Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise. ~ Sir Francis Bacon

The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

~James Madison

All men having power ought to be mistrusted. ~ James Madison

Think of war as a game of Russian roulette. It is a game of chance with your life as the grand prize.

~Ramman Kenoun

Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong. ~ James Bryce

Peace has to be created, in order to be maintained. It will never be achieved by passivity and quietism.

~Dorothy Thompson

~John Cory

~Congressman Ron Paul

~Lance Cpl. Devin Kelly (USMC)

~Basil O'Connor

The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders...tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. ~ Herman Goering

Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself. ~ Lao Tzu

Wars have ever been but another aristocratic mode of plundering and oppressing commerce. ~ Richard Cobden

As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand. ~ Josh Billings

Tyrants seldom want pretexts. ~ Edmund Burke

The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one. ~ Albert Einstein

To some degree it matters who's in office, but it matters more how much pressure they're under from the public. ~ Noam Chomsky

This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.

~Plato

The state has, in order to control us, introduced division into our thinking, so that we come to distrust others and look to the state for protection. ~ Butler Shaffer

Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich. ~ Sir Peter Ustinov

The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. ~ Louis D. Brandeis

Peace...is the product of Faith, Strength, Energy, Will, Sympathy, Justice, Imagination, and the triumph of principle. ~ Dorothy Thompson

We believed ourselves indestructable... watching only the madmen outside our frontiers, and we remained defenseless against our own madmen. ~ Jacobo Timerman

There is no morality in war. Morality is the privilege of those judging from the distance. War is only death and destruction... ~ John Cory

That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of Nations is as shocking as it is true... ~ Thomas Paine

We Americans have no commission from God to police the world. ~ Benjamin Harrison

...The very nature of interstate war puts innocent civilians into great jeopardy, especially with modern technology. ~ Murray Rothbard

Peace hath higher tests of manhood than battle ever knew. ~ John Greenleaf Whittier

It's more humane to cure your enemies than to kill them. ~ Hugh Mann

There is nothing more frightening than active ignorance. ~ Goethe

Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. ~ Edward Everett

We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

The biggest lesson I learned from Vietnam is not to trust [our own] government statements. ~ Senator James W. Fulbright

Coercive practices that threaten our neighbor(s) also threaten us. ~ Butler Shaffer

We need a type of patriotism that recognizes the virtues of those who are opposed to us. ~ Francis John McConnell

A man who kills on his own is a murderer. A man who kills at his government's request is a national hero. ~ Ramman Kenoun

We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

War is the tool of small-minded scoundrels who worship the death of others on the altar of their greed. ~ John Cory

The State acquires power... and because of its insatiable lust for power it is incapable of giving up any of it. The State never abdicates. ~ Frank Chodorov

No great dependence is to be placed on the eagerness of young soldiers for action...fighting is agreeable to those who are strangers to it. ~ Vegetius

To the wicked, everything serves as pretext. ~ Voltaire

I'm afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security.

~Jim Garrison

We must get away from the idea that America is to be the leader of the world in everything. ~ Francis John McConnell

The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny... ~ David Hume

Mankind deserves sacrifice - but not of mankind. ~ Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots. ~ Barbara Ehrenreich

War is the cemetery of futures promised. ~ John Cory

To kill a man is not to defend a doctrine, but to kill a man. ~ Michael Servetus

Phony pretexts repeated often enough become real reasons. Things that...are not true become true in the public mind simply through endless repetition. ~ Lenny Bloom

They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason. ~ Ernest Hemingway

~John Cory

It is unfortunately none too well understood that, just as the State has no money of its own, so it has no power of its own. ~ Albert J. Nock

Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it. ~ Alexis de Tocqueville

The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. ~ John Stuart Mill

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

Force always attracts men of low morality. ~ Albert Einstein

War is just a racket...I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. ~ General Smedley Butler

War technology is science in the service of obscene anatomical vandalism. ~ Stan Goff

There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket. ~ General Smedley Butler

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy? ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose — and you allow him to make war at pleasure. ~ Abraham Lincoln

It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear. ~ General Douglas MacArthur

'Emergencies' have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.

~FA Hayek

When fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression. ~ H.L. Menken

To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace. ~ Tacitus: This quote is attributed to Calgacus in the Roman historian Tacitus' "Agricola."

Vietnam was the first war ever fought without censorship. Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind. ~ General William Westmoreland

They talk about conscription as a democratic institution. Yes; so is a cemetery. ~ Rep. Meyer London

War, n: A time-tested political tactic guaranteed to raise a president’s popularity rating by at least 30 points. It is especially useful during election years and economic downturns. ~ Chaz Bufe

I learned nothing from war. War is not an activity for human beings; war is for criminals—rape, robbery and murder. ~ Roman Podabedov (Russian anti-tank gunner)

There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. ~ Howard Zinn

War is a racket. ~ Smedley Butler

If my soldiers were to begin to think, not one of them would remain in the army. ~ Frederick the Great

Are bombs the only way of setting fire to the spirit of a people? Is the human will as inert as the past two world-wide wars would indicate? ~ Gregory Clark

I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in. ~ George McGovern

War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men. ~ Georges Clemenceau

Nothing except a battle lost can be half as melancholy as a battle won. ~ Duke of Wellington

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. ~ John F. Kennedy

Every government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck.

~Guy de Maupassant

Why should you ask blood be spilled for a cause that is not in the interest of the American people?

~Rep. Wally Herger

Tis nobler to lose honor to save the lives of men than it is to gain honor by taking them. ~ David Borenstein

Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived. ~ Abraham Lincoln

The first casualty when war comes is the truth. ~ Sen. Hiram Johnson

This war is not necessary. We are truly sleepwalking through history. ~ Sen. Robert Byrd

Washington...has become an alien city-state that rules America, and much of the rest of the world, in the way that Rome ruled the Roman Empire. ~ Richard Maybury

Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness. ~ George Washington

Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ John Adams

A belligerent state permits itself every such misdeed, every such act of violence, as would disgrace the individual. ~ Sigmund Freud

Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear - kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor - with the cry of grave national emergency. ~ General Douglas MacArthur

After each war there is a little less democracy to save. ~ Brooks Atkinson

If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator. ~ George W. Bush

Violence and arms can never resolve the problems of men. ~ Pope John Paul II

If peace...only had the music and pagaentry of war, there'd be no wars. ~ Sophie Kerr

God hates violence. He has ordained that all men fairly possess their property, not seize it. ~ Euripides

All the gods are dead except the god of war. ~ Eldridge Cleaver

The bombs in Vietnam explode at home; they destroy the hopes and possibilities for a decent America.

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

~Evan Thomas

The supreme excellence is to subde the armies of your enemies without even having to fight them. ~ Sun Tzu

From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step. ~ Denis Diderot

The time has come to stop beating our heads against stone walls under the illusion that we have been appointed policeman to the human race. ~ Walter Lippmann

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.

~George Washington

The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force. ~ Thomas Jefferson

No nation ever had an army large enough to guarantee it against attack in time of peace, or ensure it of victory in time of war. ~ Calvin Coolidge

Can anything be more ridiculous than that a man has a right to kill me because he lives on the other side of the water, and because his ruler has quarrel with mine, although I have none with him? ~ Blaise Pascal

An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war. ~ Montesquieu

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. ~ John F. Kennedy

Most quarrels are inevitable at the time; incredible afterwards. ~ E. M. Forster

It is the youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow...that are the aftermath of war. ~ Herbert C. Hoover

There's no difference between one's killing and making decisions that will send others to kill. It's exactly the same thing, or even worse. ~ Golda Meir

The military doesn't start wars. The politicians start wars. ~ General William Westmoreland

It is the merit of a general to impart good news, and to conceal the truth. ~ Sophocles

In war, truth is the first casualty. ~ Aeschylus

A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it. ~ Oscar Wilde

Man is the only animal of which I am thoroughly and cravenly afraid...There is no harm in a well-fed lion. It has no ideals, no sect, no party... ~ George Bernard Shaw

"My country right or wrong" is like saying, "My mother drunk or sober." ~ G. K. Chesterton

History is littered with wars which everybody knew would never happen. ~ Enoch Powell

At least we're getting the kind of experience we need for the next war. ~ Allen Dulles

War is the greatest plague that can affect humanity; it destroys religion, it destroys states, it destroys families. Any scourge is preferable to it. ~ Martin Luther

How vile and despicable war seems to me! I would rather be hacked to pieces than take part in such an abominable business. ~ Albert Einstein

Have you ever thought that war is a madhouse and that everyone in the war is a patient? ~ Oriana Fallaci

War is mainly a catalogue of blunders. ~ Winston Churchill

Hate is able to provoke disorders, to ruin a social organization, to cast a country into a period of bloody revolutions; but it produces nothing. ~ Georges Sorel

We are all familiar with the argument: Make war dreadful enough, and there will be no war. And we none of us believe it. ~ John Galsworthy

War is not an adventure. It is a disease. It is like typhus. ~ Antoine De Saint-Exupery

War would end if the dead could return. ~ Stanley Baldwin

There are no warlike people--just warlike leaders. ~ Ralph Bunche

Name me an emperor who was ever struck by a cannonball. ~ Charles V of France

As for being a General, well, at the age of four with paper hats and wooden swords, we're all Generals. Only some of us never grow out of it. ~ Sir Peter Ustinov

You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong no matter who does it or who says it. ~ Malcolm X

To wage war, you need first of all money; second, you need money, and third, you also need money.

~Prince Montecuccoli

A man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he cannot sit on it. ~ William Ralph Inge

You can wipe out your opponents. But if you do it unjustly you become eligible for being wiped out yourself.

~Ernest Hemingway

You can't have this kind of war. There just aren't enough bulldozers to scrape the bodies off the streets.

~Dwight D. Eisenhower

You've got to forget about this civilian. Whenever you drop bombs, you're going to hit civilians.

~Barry Goldwater

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. ~ Albert Einstein

Let us not deceive ourselves; we must elect world peace or world destruction. ~ Bernard M. Baruch

True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else. ~ Clarence Darrow

If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat. ~ Simone de Beauvoir

The time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war. ~ E. B. White

In peace, sons bury their fathers; in war, fathers bury their sons. ~ Herodotus

When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise. ~ Winston Churchill

One more such victory and we are undone. ~ Pyrrhus of Epirus

The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it. ~ H. L. Mencken

Those who stand for nothing fall for anything. ~ Alexander Hamilton

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. ~ Plato

The 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

It is our true policy to steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world.

~George Washington

America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. ~ John Quincy Adams

Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. ~ Ronald Reagan

Civilized society is perpetually menaced with disintegration through this primary hostility of men towards one another... ~ Sigmund Freud

The coward threatens when he is safe. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

People who talk of outlawing the atomic bomb are mistaken — what needs to be outlawed is war. ~ Leslie Richard Groves

Peace has its victories no less than war, but it doesn't have as many monuments to unveil. ~ Kin Hubbard

How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words! ~ Samuel Adams

Do not ever say that the desire to "do good" by force is a good motive. Neither power-lust nor stupidity are good motives. ~ Ayn Rand

Most wars are started by well-fed people with time on their hands to dream up half-baked ideologies or grandiose ambitions, and to nurse real or imagined grievances. ~ Thomas Sowell

The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. ~ Ludwig von Mises

Economically considered, war and revolution are always bad business. ~ Ludwig von Mises

War can really cause no economic boom, at least not directly, since an increase in wealth never does result from destruction of goods. ~ Ludwig von Mises

War is the Health of the State. ~ Randolph Bourne

Whoever wishes peace among peoples must fight statism. ~ Ludwig von Mises

The attainment of the economic aims of man presupposes peace. ~ Ludwig von Mises

History has witnessed the failure of many endeavors to impose peace by war, cooperation by coercion, unanimity by slaughtering dissidents…. A lasting order cannot be established by bayonets. ~ Ludwig von Mises

Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remain uninterrupted. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto. ~ Thomas Jefferson

There never was a good war or a bad peace. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. ~ James Madison

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. ~ H.L. Mencken

America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. ~ John Quincy Adams

When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.

~Plato

In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful. ~ Leo Tolstoy

The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding. ~ Justice Louis D. Brandeis

The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation from their purposes. ~ Carl P. G. von Clausewitz

All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. ~ Voltaire

They are nations of eternal war. All their energies are expended in the destruction of the labor, property, and lives of their people. ~ Thomas Jefferson

I venture to say no war can be long carried on against the will of the people. ~ Edmund Burke

I think war is a dangerous place. ~ George W. Bush

War’s a brain spattering windpipe splitting art. ~ Lord Byron

It is in war that the State really comes into its own: swelling in power, in number, in pride, in absolute dominion over the economy and the society. ~ Murray Rothbard

It is harder to preserve than to obtain liberty. ~ John C. Calhoun

The only defensible war is a war of defense. ~ G. K. Chesterton

The pertinent question: if Americans did not want these wars should they have been compelled to fight them? ~ Frank Chodorov

The more laws, the less justice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

The sinews of war are infinite money. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

Politics is the womb in which war develops. ~ Carl P. G. von Clausewitz

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

~James Madison

A standing army is a standing menace to liberty. ~ Voltairine de Clayre

When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

War settles nothing. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you kill one person you are a murderer. If you kill ten people you are a monster. If you kill ten thousand you are a national hero. ~ Vassilis Epaminondou

Civilization began the first time an angry person cast a word instead of a rock. ~ Sigmund Freud

Since the end of the nineteenth century, if not earlier, presidents have misled the public about their motives and their intentions in going to war. ~ Robert Higgs

Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues. ~ Thomas Hobbes

What is absurd and monstrous about war is that men who have no personal quarrel should be trained to murder one another in cold blood. ~ Aldous Huxley

Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government. ~ Thomas Jefferson

We did not raise armies for glory or for conquest. ~ Thomas Jefferson

I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind. ~ Thomas Jefferson

The most successful war seldom pays for its losses. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Strike against war, for without you no battles can be fought! ~ Helen Keller

Be not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of destruction! Be heroes in an army of construction! ~ Helen Keller

Nothing good ever comes of violence. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it. ~ George Orwell

Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac. ~ George Orwell

One certain effect of war is to diminish freedom of expression. ~ Howard Zinn

War prosperity is like the prosperity that an earthquake or a plague brings. ~ Ludwig von Mises

War--after all, what is it that the people get? Why--widows, taxes, wooden legs and debt. ~ Samuel B. Pettengill

No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic. ~ A. J. P. Taylor

No war is inevitable until it breaks out. ~ A. J. P. Taylor

Almost all war making states borrow extensively, raise taxes, and seize the means of combat- including men--from reluctant citizens... ~ Charles Tilly

All warfare is based on deception. ~ Sun Tzu

There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. ~ Sun Tzu

I hate it when they say, ‘He gave his life for his country.’ They don’t die for the honor and glory of their country. We kill them. ~ Rear Admiral Gene R. LaRocque

War has become a spectator sport for Americans. ~ Rear Admiral Gene R. LaRocque

We all have to be concerned about terrorism, but you will never end terrorism by terrorizing others.

~Martin Luther King III

Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. ~ James Madison

No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. ~ James Madison

The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

~James Madison

Our poverty will be brought home to us to its full extent only after the war. ~ Joseph A. Schumpeter

The opposite of war is not peace, it's creation. ~ Jonathan Larson

The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Is it security you want? There is no security at the top of the world. ~ Garet Garrett

With no notice to the American people...this country entered the war...Stranger than the fact was the passive acceptance of it. ~ Garet Garrett

What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness god has given us in this world... ~ Robert E. Lee

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap. ~ Ronald Reagan

It is not only the living who are killed in war. ~ Isaac Asimov

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. ~ General Omar N. Bradley

Wars frequently begin ten years before the first shot is fired. ~ K. K. V. Casey

Where is the indignation about the fact that the US and USSR have thirty thousand pounds of destructive force for every human being in the world? ~ Norman Cousins

There is nothing that war has ever achieved that we could not better achieve without it. ~ Henry Havelock Ellis

The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations. ~ David Friedman

War grows out of the desire of the individual to gain advantage at the expense of his fellow man. ~ Napoleon Hill

The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution. ~ John F. Kennedy

One does not create a human society on mounds of corpses. ~ Louis Lecoin

A visitor from Mars could easily pick out the civilized nations. They have the best implements of war.

~Herbert V. Prochnow

[War] can no longer be of concern to great powers alone. ~ John F. Kennedy

We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. ~ General Omar N. Bradley

Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice. ~ Spinoza

Conflict cannot survive without your participation. ~ Dr. Wayne Dyer

I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace. ~ George W. Bush

When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration? ~ Benjamin Franklin

Mankind is becoming a single unit, and that for a unit to fight against itself is suicide. ~ Havelock Ellis

I'd like to see the government get out of war altogether and leave the whole field to private individuals.

~Joseph Heller

Petroleum is a more likely cause of international conflict than wheat. ~ Simone Weil

War is never a solution; it is an aggravation. ~ Benjamin Disraeli

Force without judgement falls on its own weight. ~ Horace

Dress it as we may...huzza it, and sing swaggering songs about it, what is war, nine times out of ten, but murder in uniform? ~ Douglas Jerrold

War should be made a crime, and those who instigate it should be punished as criminals. ~ Charles Evans Hughes

Yes, we love peace, but we are not willing to take wounds for it, as we are for war. ~ John Andrew Holmes

We have all taken risks in the making of war. Isn't it time that we should take risks to secure peace?

~J. Ramsay MacDonald

~J. Ramsay MacDonald

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. ~ Albert Einstein

During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism. ~ Howard Thurman

How far can you go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without? ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

We have guided missiles and misguided men. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle...your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder. ~ Albert Einstein

...the role of the military is to fight and win war and, therefore, prevent war from happening in the first place. ~ George W. Bush

Force is the weapon of the weak. ~ Ammon Hennacy

The price of empire is America’s soul, and that price is too high. ~ Sen. J. William Fulbright (Ark.)

Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

O peace! how many wars were waged in thy name. ~ Alexander Pope

If we don’t stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, we’re going to have a serious problem coming down the road. ~ George W. Bush

I can tell you this: If I’m ever in a position to call the shots, I’m not going to rush to send somebody else’s kids into a war. ~ George H. W. Bush

It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad. ~ James Madison

War is the most striking instance of the failure of intelligence to master the problem of human relationships.

~Harry Elmer Barnes

The 1st panacea of a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the 2nd is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; a permanent ruin. ~ Ernest Hemingway

The state can be and has often been in the course of history the main source of mischief and disaster.

~Ludwig von Mises

Society has arisen out of the works of peace; the essence of society is peacemaking. Peace and not war is the father of all things. ~ Ludwig von Mises

To defeat the aggressors is not enough to make peace durable. The main thing is to discard the ideology that generates war. ~ Ludwig von Mises

War can really cause no economic boom, at least not directly, since an increase in wealth never does result from destruction of goods. ~ Ludwig von Mises

The philosophy of protectionism is a philosophy of war. ~ Ludwig von Mises

Sovereignty must not be used for inflicting harm on anyone, whether citizen or foreigner. ~ Ludwig von Mises

Whoever wishes peace among peoples must fight statism. ~ Ludwig von Mises

Modern society, based as it is on the division of labor, can be preserved only under conditions of lasting peace. ~ Ludwig von Mises

Men are fighting...because they are convinced that the extermination of adversaries is the only means of promoting their own well-being. ~ Ludwig von Mises

If men do not now succeed in abolishing war, civilization and mankind are doomed. ~ Ludwig von Mises

~Ludwig von Mises

Wars of aggression are popular nowadays with those nations convinced that only victory and conquest could improve their material well-being. ~ Ludwig von Mises

Only one thing can conquer war--that attitude of mind which can see nothing in war but destruction and annihilation... ~ Ludwig von Mises

Whoever wants peace among nations must seek to limit the state and its influence most strictly. ~ Ludwig von Mises

The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight. ~ A. J. P. Taylor

War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means. ~ Carl P. G. von Clausewitz

We...are not really free if we can't control our own government and its policies. And we will never do that if we remain ignorant. ~ Charley Reese

War: A wretched debasement of all the pretenses of civilization. ~ General Omar N. Bradley

The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war. ~ James Madison

There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that's just a fact. ~ Donald Rumsfeld

If there is no sufficient reason for war, the war party will make war on one pretext, then invent another...after the war is on. ~ Senator Robert M. La Follette

Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak... ~ John Adams

Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too. ~ Marcus Aurelius

Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it. ~ Mark Twain

Putting aside all the fancy words and academic doubletalk, the basic reason for having a military is to do two jobs --to kill people and to destroy. ~ General Thomas S. Power

The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to foreign hands should be curtailed, lest Rome fall. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

Freedom is to understand, and to be unbounded by that freedom. ~ Juan C. Mustelier

"Rules of engagement" are a set of guidelines for murder. ~ Dr. Teresa Whitehurst

War is the ultimate tool of politics. ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

The failure to dissect the cause of war leaves us open for the next installment. ~ Chris Hedges

The soldier's main enemy is not the opposing soldier, but his own commander. ~ Ramman Kenoun

The occupation and robbery of a nation occurs under the illusion of freeing its citizens from brutal oppression. ~ Ramman Kenoun

A great war leaves the country with three armies - an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of thieves. ~ German proverb

The truth is that neither British nor American imperialism was or is idealistic. It has always been driven by economic or strategic interests. ~ Charley Reese

The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it. ~ H. L. Mencken

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. ~ William Pitt

It's quite fun to fight 'em, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up front with you, I like brawling. ~ Lt. Gen. James Mattis, USMC

~Voltaire

Anyone who has proclaimed violence his method inexorably must choose lying as his principle. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

~Hannah Arendt

Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it. ~ Noam Chomsky

Conflict is the criminals' paradise; it is the only time when killing is allowed, theft is tolerated, and rape is forgiven. ~ Ramman Kenoun

The politicians in this world... have at their command weapons of mass destruction far more complex than their own thinking processes. ~ Charley Reese

Even philosophers will praise war as ennobling mankind, forgetting the Greek who said: ‘War is bad in that it begets more evil than it kills.' ~ Immanuel Kant

Whoever wishes peace among peoples must fight statism. ~ Ludwig von Mises

To defeat the aggressors is not enough to make peace durable. The main thing is to discard the ideology that generates war. ~ Ludwig von Mises

All wars come to an end, at least temporarily. But the authority acquired by the state hangs on; political power never abdicates. ~ Frank Chodorov

I believe in only one thing: liberty, but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upon anyone. ~ H. L. Mencken

A lasting order cannot be established by bayonets. ~ Ludwig von Mises

It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell. ~ General William Tecumseh Sherman

War is the gambling table of governments, and citizens the dupes of the game. ~ Thomas Paine

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie: deliberate, continued, and dishonest; but the myth: persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. ~ John F. Kennedy

Humanity is quite a unique species, since it is the only one with the means to wipe itself out. ~ Ramman Kenoun

He whom many fear, has himself many to fear. ~ Publilius Syrus

Those who do not move, do not notice their chains. ~ Rosa Luxemburg

My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military. ~ General Smedley Butler (USMC, Ret.)

The enormous gap between what US leaders do...and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments... ~ Michael Parenti

Search for the truth is the noblest occupation of man; its publication is a duty. ~ Anne Louise Germaine de Stael

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. ~ George Orwell

It is not the fact of liberty but the way in which liberty is exercised that ultimately determines whether liberty itself survives. ~ Dorothy Thompson

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. ~ John Adams

A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. ~ John F. Kennedy

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. ~ John F. Kennedy

A hospital alone shows what war is. ~ Erich Maria Remarque

Vietnam should remind conservatives that whenever you put your faith in big government for any reason, sooner or later you wind up an apologist for mass murder. ~ Karl Hess

During war, the laws are silent. ~ Quintus Tullius Cicero

Either man will abolish war, or war will abolish man. ~ Bertrand Russell

Whether or not patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, national security can be the last refuge of the tyrant. ~ Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe

Every move we make in fear of the next war in fact hastens it. ~ Gregory Bateson

Societies can be sunk by the weight of buried ugliness. ~ Daniel Goleman

No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country. ~ Alexis de Tocqueville

~Alan Watts

I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends. ~ Abraham Lincoln

The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.

~Charles-Louis De Secondat

We cloak ourselves in cold indifference to the unnecessary suffering of others--even when we cause it.

~James Carroll

Society has arisen out of the works of peace; the essence of society is peacemaking. ~ Ludwig von Mises

When [men] go to war, what they want is to impose on their enemies the victor's will and call it peace.

~St. Augustine

Killing someone is the ultimate crime, while on the other hand, killing someone in uniform is fulfillment of duty. ~ Ramman Kenoun

The best defense is no offense. ~ Dr. Ivan Eland

Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play. ~ Joseph Goebbels

One can...never create [freedom] by an invading force. ~ Maximilien Robespierre

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. ~James Madison

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

To preserve our independence...We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. ~ Thomas Jefferson

All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting. ~ George Orwell

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

~Nelson Mandela

The tyrant always talks as if he's preserving the best interests of his people when he actually acts to undermine them. ~ Ramman Kenoun

It’s one thing to fight for what you believe in, another thing to fight for what others believe in. ~James Wolcott About the quote: in his article “From Fear to Eternity” in Vanity Fair, March 2005

When we fill our souls up with creativity, artistry and intelligence ...we have a better chance at avoiding the behavior that leads to destruction. ~ Rick DellaRatta About the quote: Rick DellaRatta is founder of the group Jazz for Peace.

What political leaders decide, intelligence services tend to seek to justify. ~ Henry Kissinger

~Pope John Paul II

Wars are the hobbies of half-informed children who have somehow come into possession of the levers of power. ~ Fred Reed

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. ~ Edward Abbey

Why, the Government is merely...a temporary servant...Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. ~ Mark Twain

The question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth? And the answer is not very damned many. ~ Dick Cheney

It's not a matter of what is true that counts but a matter of what is perceived to be true. ~ Henry Kissinger

Those who suppress freedom always do so in the name of law and order. ~ John V. Lindsay

Governments use national animosities, foreign wars and the glamour of empire-making, in order to...divert rising sentiment against domestic abuses. ~ J. R. Hobson

Brute force is not our salvation, especially as directed by State central planning and done with little regard for the innocents... ~ Anthony Gregory About the quote: Anthony Gregory is a writer and musician from Berkeley, CA. You can read his articles at www.lewrockwell.com

Under conditions of peace the warlike man attacks himself. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

The constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. ~ James Madison About the quote: as written in a letter to Thomas Jefferson. You can read more about this in Thomas E. Woods, Jr's article "Presidential War Powers" on www.LewRockwell.com.

Killing a man in defense of an idea is not defending an idea; it is killing a man. ~ Jean -Luc Godard

A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be...surer of the noose than a private homicide. ~ H. G. Wells

If you make peaceful change impossible... you make violent revolution inevitable. ~ John F. Kennedy

In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh About the quote: Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk

War in the end is always about betrayal, betrayal of the young by the old, of soldiers by politicians, and of idealists by cynics. ~ Chris Hedges

A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. ~ Johan Christoph Schiller

Today the real test of America's power and wisdom is not our capacity to make war but our capacity to prevent it. ~ Dale Turner About the quote: from an article in The Seattle Times, 1/11/03.

War...is as much a punishment to the punisher as to the sufferer. ~ Thomas Jefferson

It takes more courage to get out of a war than it does to get into one. ~ Mark Couturier

Statism needs war; a free country does not. Statism survives by looting; a free country survives by producing. ~ Ayn Rand

One keeps healthy in wartime...by a vigorous assertion of values in which war has no part. ~ Randolph Bourne

Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives. ~ Ronald Reagan

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry. ~ Thomas Paine

A highwayman is as much a robber when he plunders in a gang as when single; and a nation that makes an unjust war is only a great gang. ~ Benjamin Franklin About the quote: Speaking to Benjamin Vaughan, 14 March 1785.

You cannot win a War on Terrorism. It’s like having a war on jealousy. ~ David Cross About the quote: Cross is a comedian, most well known for his roles on the television series "Arrested Development" and "Mr. Show." This quote is from his 2002 comedy album.

About the quote: Anthony Gregory is a writer and musician from Berkeley, CA. You can read his articles at www.lewrockwell.com

Iraq was a war of choice, not necessity. ~ Senator Barbara Boxer

...History shows that ... (people) can be deflected from their natural tendencies by artful propaganda, bogus crises, or other political trickery. ~ Robert Higgs About the quote: Robert Higgs is a Senior Fellow in Political Economy for The Independent Institute.

Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional. ~ Max Lucade

For it isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. ~ Thomas Alva Edison

Politicians' Logic: Something must be done, this is something, therefore we must do it. ~ Yes, Prime Minister (UK TV Show) About the quote: http://www.yes-minister.com/polterms.htm

Be loyal to your country always, and to the government only when it deserves it. ~ Mark Twain

When the largest industry in the world is no longer War, I will accept Darwin's theory of Evolution. ~Dale S. Mugford

No one has ever succeeded in keeping nations at war except by lies. ~ Salvador de Madariaga

War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses. ~ Thomas Jefferson

It is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error. ~ Robert H. Jackson

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful...They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we. ~ George W. Bush

The terrorist is the one with the small bomb. ~ Brendan Behan

Suspicion must always fall on those who attempt to silence their opponents. ~ Ian Buckley

Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths...I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that? ~ Barbara Bush: Mrs. Bush spoke these words on ABC's "Good Morning America," March 18, 2003.

So long as the deceit ran along quiet and monotonous, all of us let ourselves be deceived, abetting it unawares or maybe through cowardice... ~ William Faulkner: from his book "As I Lay Dying"

If you want war, nurish a doctrine. Doctrines are the most frightful tyrants to which men ever are subject... ~William Graham Sumner

The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. ~ Thomas Jefferson

All wars eventually act as boomerangs and the victor suffers as much as the vanquished. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt: from "My Day," February 7, 1939

That meddling in other people's affairs...formerly conducted by the most discreet intrigue is now openly advocated under the name of intervention. ~ T.S. Eliot

Justice itself tends to be corrupted by political passion. ~ T.S. Eliot

Where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. ~ Lord Acton

The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the party that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections. ~ Lord Acton

Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak... Non-violence is hard work. ~ Cesar Chavez

It is useless to attack men who could not be controlled even if conquered, while failure would leave us in an even worse position... ~ Thucydides About the quote: Thucydides was a Athenian historian, born in the 5th century, BC. Here, he is quoting the Athenian general Nikias on the proposed invasion of Sicily during the Peloponnesian War.

Only fools seek power, and the greatest fools seek it through force. ~ Lao Tsu

Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. ~ Thomas Merton About the quote: (1915-1968)

When goods don't cross borders, soldiers will. ~ Fredric Bastiat

Good intentions will always be pleaded for any assumption of power. ~ Michael Gillespie

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. ~James Madison About the quote: This quote is from the period he served as a US Congressman (he represented Virginia from 1789-1797).

This I hope will be the age of experiments in government, and that their basis will be founded in principles of honesty, not of mere force. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Freedom is whatever the president says it is, pending revision. ~ James Bovard  About the quote: http://jimbovard.com/blog/2006/01/17/credo-from-attention-deficit-democracy/

Good leaders serve the interests of their people, while unfit leaders exploit their citizens to serve their own. ~ Ramman Kenoun

How is it possible for people to consider themselves supporters of the troops when they approve of an event that throws those troops into...peril? ~ Ramman Kenoun

When people have friends and customers in other lands, they tend to take a dim view of their government dropping bombs on them. ~ Terry Liberty Parker

No war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people. ~ Eugene Debs  (1855-1926)

Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war. ~ Albert Einstein

War is a failure of human intelligence. ~ Patricia Sun About the quote: Patricia Sun is an internationally renowned philosophical psychologist.

All forms of violence, especially war, are totally unacceptable as means to settle disputes between and among nations, groups and persons. ~ Dalai Lama

Acts of terror have never brought down liberal democracies. Acts of parliament have closed a few. ~Lt. General William E. Odom, US Army (Ret.),

The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is my own government. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Distorted history boasts of bellicose glory . . . and seduces the souls of boys to seek mystical bliss in bloodshed and in battles. ~ Alfred Adler

In any war, the first casualty is common sense, and the second is free and open discussion. ~ James Reston About the quote: American Journalist (1909-1995), best known for his work with the NY Times.

Tis not, 'my country right or wrong'; tis, 'my country, that which is right to be kept right, that which is wrong to be set right' ~ Senator Carl Schurz (MO)  About the quote: from his senate remarks 2/29/72. published in 'The Policy of Imperialism, Speeches, Correspondence and Political Papers of Carl Schurz, vol. 6, pp. 119–20 (1913).

It is frightening how the actions of a single leader can have such drastic effects on the prestige of an entire nation. ~ Ramman Kenoun

If we don't stop behaving like the British Empire, we will end up like the British Empire. ~ Pat Buchanan About the quote: From Buchanan's 5/9/06 article "Why Are We Baiting Putin?"

Although tyranny...may successfully rule over foreign peoples, it can stay in power only if it destroys first of all the national institutions of its own people. ~ Hannah Arendt

In modern war there is no such thing as victor and vanquished...There is only a loser, and the loser is mankind. ~ U Thant , Burmese UN Secretary General

The greatest protection against war is a well educated populace. ~ L.L. Castetter About the quote: Castetter was a WWI veteran; this quote is from the 1930s (from p. 178 of the book "A Page A Day," ed. by Kenneth Adams, published by Authorhouse.com).

The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people. ~ Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis

The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy. ~ Charles de Montesquieu: About the quote: from "The Spirit of Laws" (1748)

The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media. ~ William Colby, former CIA director About the quote: as quoted by Dave McGowan in his book "Derailing Democracy

I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land. ~ Mark Twain About the quote: From an interview, 9/15/1900

NEWS CONTENTS

• 20170830 : Selected quotes from antiwar.com ( www.moonofalabama.org )

Old News ;-)

[Aug 30, 2017] Selected quotes from antiwar.com

Notable quotes:

"... In war, truth is the first casualty. ..."

"... The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight ..."

"... Force always attracts men of low morality ..."

"... The slightest acquaintance with history shows that powerful republics are the most warlike and unscrupulous of nations. ..."

www.moonofalabama.org

Below is a listing of the quotes you see displayed on all Antiwar.com pages. .

1. History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. ~Abba Eban About the quote: Israeli diplomat (1915-2002)

2. Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both. ~Abraham Flexner

3. Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived. ~Abraham Lincoln
4. I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends. ~Abraham Lincoln
5. America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~Abraham Lincoln
6. We must recognize the chief characteristic of the modern era -- a permanent state of what I call violent peace. ~Admiral James D. Watkins
7. Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it. ~Adolph Hitler
8. In war, truth is the first casualty. ~Aeschylus
9. Any excuse will serve a tyrant. ~Aesop
10. One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one. ~Agatha Christie
11. The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight. ~A. J. P. Taylor
12. No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic. ~A. J. P. Taylor
13. Wars based on principle are far more destructive... the attacker will not destroy that which he is after. ~Alan Watts About the quote: from the book "The Way of Zen"

14. We used to wonder where war lived, what it was that made it so vile. And now we realize that we know where it lives...inside ourselves. ~Albert Camus

15. When a war breaks out, people say: "It's too stupid, it can't last long." But though a war may be "too stupid," that doesn't prevent its lasting. ~Albert Camus
16. The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants. ~Albert Camus
17. Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. ~Albert Einstein
18. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder. ~Albert Einstein
19. The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one. ~Albert Einstein
20. Force always attracts men of low morality. ~Albert Einstein
21. Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. ~Albert Einstein
22. The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. ~Albert Einstein
23. It is unfortunately none too well understood that, just as the State has no money of its own, so it has no power of its own. ~Albert J. Nock
24. What is absurd and monstrous about war is that men who have no personal quarrel should be trained to murder one another in cold blood. ~Aldous Huxley
25. Even if we are spared destruction by war, our lives will have to change if we want to save life from self-destruction. ~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
26. The next war ... may well bury Western civilization forever. ~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
27. Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence. ~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
28. The demands of internal growth are incomparably more important to us...than the need for any external expansion of our power. ~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
29. Even if we are spared destruction by war, our lives will have to change if we want to save life from self-destruction. ~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
30. War paralyzes your courage and deadens the spirit of true manhood. ~Alexander Berkman
31. Those who stand for nothing fall for anything. ~Alexander Hamilton
32. O peace! how many wars were waged in thy name. ~Alexander Pope
33. All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it. ~Alexis de Tocqueville
34. Our modern states are preparing for war without even knowing the future enemy. ~Alfred Adler
35. War is organized murder and torture against our brothers. ~Alfred Adler
36. Our modern states are preparing for war without even knowing the future enemy. ~Alfred Adler
37. War is not the continuation of politics with different means, it is the greatest mass-crime perpetrated on the community of man. ~Alfred Adler
38. At least we're getting the kind of experience we need for the next war. ~Allen Dulles
39. The slightest acquaintance with history shows that powerful republics are the most warlike and unscrupulous of nations. ~Ambrose Bierce
40. Since the end of the World War II, the United States has fought three "small" wars...we lost all three of them and for the same reason--hubris. ~Andrew Greely About the quote: Andrew Greely is a columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times. You can read his articles at http://www.suntimes.com/index/greeley.html
41. Today the real test of power is not capacity to make war but capacity to prevent it. ~Anne O'Hare McCormick
42. A great war leaves a country with three armies: an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of thieves. ~Anonymous (German) About the quote: (quote from 'The Anti-War Quote Book,' edited Eric Groves, Sr., pub. Quirk Books, 2008)
43. Brute force is not our salvation, especially as directed by State central planning and done with little regard for the innocents... ~Anthony Gregory About the quote: Anthony Gregory is a writer and musician from Berkeley, CA. You can read his articles at www.lewrockwell.com About the quote: Anthony Gregory is a writer and musician from Berkeley, CA. You can read his articles at www.lewrockwell.com War is not an adventure. It is a disease. It is like typhus. ~Antoine De Saint-Exupery
44. Make wars unprofitable and you make them impossible. ~A. Philip Randolph About the quote: Randolph (1889-1979) was an African American civil rights leader. (quote from 'The Anti-War Quote Book,' edited Eric Groves, Sr., pub. Quirk Books, 2008)
45. Because I do it with one small ship, I am called a terrorist. You do it with a whole fleet and are called an emperor. ~A pirate, from St. Augustine's "City of God"
46. Old men declare war because they have failed to solve complex political and economic problems. ~Arthur Hoppe About the quote: Hoppe (1925-2000) was an American writer. (quote from 'The Anti-War Quote Book,' edited Eric Groves, Sr., pub. Quirk Books, 2008)
47. All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. ~Arthur Schopenhauer
48. Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths...I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that? ~Barbara Bush About the quote: Mrs. Bush spoke these words on ABC's "Good Morning America," March 18, 2003.
49. No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots. ~Barbara Ehrenreich
50. War is the unfolding of miscalculations. ~Barbara Tuchman
51. You've got to forget about this civilian. Whenever you drop bombs, you're going to hit civilians. ~Barry Goldwater
52. The world cannot continue to wage war like physical giants and to seek peace like intellectual pygmies. ~Basil O'Connor
53. War is never a solution; it is an aggravation. ~Benjamin Disraeli
54. There never was a good war or a bad peace. ~Benjamin Franklin
55. All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones. ~Benjamin Franklin
56. When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration? ~Benjamin Franklin
57. I hope....that mankind will at length, as they call themselves responsible creatures, have the reason and sense enough to settle their differences without cutting throats... ~Benjamin Franklin
58. Those who give up essential liberties for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin
59. We Americans have no commission from God to police the world. ~Benjamin Harrison About the quote: from an 1888 address to Congress
60. The Atomic Age is here to stay-- but are we? ~Bennett Cerf
61. Let us not deceive ourselves; we must elect world peace or world destruction. ~Bernard M. Baruch
62. War does not determine who is right, only who is left. ~Bertrand Russell
63. Can anything be more ridiculous than that a man has a right to kill me because he lives on the other side of the water, and because his ruler has quarrel with mine, although I have none with him? ~Blaise Pascal
64. The terrorist is the one with the small bomb. ~Brendan Behan
65. After each war there is a little less democracy left to save. ~Brooks Atkinson About the quote: Atkinson was an American journalist who lived from 1864-1984. (quote from 'The Anti-War Quote Book,' edited Eric Groves, Sr., pub. Quirk Books, 2008)
66. Blind faith in your leaders or in anything will get you killed. ~Bruce Springsteen About the quote: This was part of Springsteen's introduction to his 1985 version of Edwin Starr's song 'War.' In this war – as in others – I am less interested in honoring the dead than in preventing the dead. ~Butler Shaffer
67. No nation ever had an army large enough to guarantee it against attack in time of peace, or ensure it of victory in time of war. ~Calvin Coolidge
68. The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation from their purposes. ~Carl P. G. von Clausewitz
69. War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means. ~Carl P. G. von Clausewitz
70. Politics is the womb in which war develops. ~Carl P. G. von Clausewitz
71. The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy. ~Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu About the quote: from "The Spirit of Laws" (1748)
72. The voice of protest...is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum...is bidding all men...obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. ~Charles Eliot Norton
73. If a war be undertaken...before the resources of peace have been tried and proved vain to secure it, that war has no defense, it is a national crime. ~Charles Eliot Norton
74. War should be made a crime, and those who instigate it should be punished as criminals. ~Charles Evans Hughes
75. The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded. ~Charles-Louis De Secondat About the quote: From "The Spirit of Laws," 1748
76. [War] is a positive, precise and specific evil, of gigantic proportions ...making within the sphere of its influence all true grandeur impossible. ~Charles Sumner About the quote: From his 1845 speech "The True Grandeur of Nations."
77. Almost all war making states borrow extensively, raise taxes, and seize the means of combat- including men--from reluctant citizens... ~Charles Tilly
78. Name me an emperor who was ever struck by a cannonball. ~Charles V of France
79. The truth is that neither British nor American imperialism was or is idealistic. It has always been driven by economic or strategic interests. ~Charley Reese
80. War, n: A time-tested political tactic guaranteed to raise a president's popularity rating by at least 30 points. It is especially useful during election years and economic downturns. ~Chaz Bufe
81. The failure to dissect the cause of war leaves us open for the next installment. ~Chris Hedges
82. After victory, you have more enemies. ~Cicero
83. True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else. ~Clarence Darrow
84. Hell hath no fury like a non-combatant. ~C.L. Montague About the quote: Quote from "Among the Dead Cities," by A.C. Grayling (Walker & Co., 2006).
85. Chauvinism is a proud and bellicose form of patriotism...which equates the national honor with military victory. ~Colonel James A. Donovan, Marine Corps
86. The dangerous patriot...is a defender of militarism and its ideals of war and glory. ~Colonel James A. Donovan, Marine Corps

87. War is never economically beneficial except for those in position to profit from war expenditures. ~Congressman Ron Paul

88. Setting a good example is a far better way to spread ideals than through force of arms. ~Congressman Ron Paul
89. As a rule of thumb, if the government wants you to know it, it probably isn't true. ~Craig Murray
90. Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised "for the good of its victims" may be the most oppressive. ~C. S. Lewis
91. Do not waste time bothering whether you "love" your neighbor; act as if you did. ~C.S. Lewis
92. You cannot win a War on Terrorism. It's like having a war on jealousy. ~David Cross
93. We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower
94. Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly, I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower About the quote: from 1953 There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower
95. "Rules of engagement" are a set of guidelines for murder. ~Dr. Teresa Whitehurst
96. We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower
97. Tyrants seldom want pretexts. ~Edmund Burke
98. A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. ~Edward Abbey
99. Our "neoconservatives" are neither new nor conservative, but old as Babylon and evil as Hell. ~Edward Abbey About the quote: A naturalist and author, Abbey lived from 1927-1989.
100. The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting each other--instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals. ~Edward Abbey About the quote: A naturalist and author, Abbey lived from 1927-1989.
101. Violence is an admission that one's ideas and goals cannot prevail on their own merits. ~Edward M. Kennedy About the quote: Kennedy (b. 1932) is a U.S. Senator (D, MA). (from 'The Anti-War Quote Book,' Quirk Books, Ed. by Eric Groves Sr.)
102. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it. ~Edward R. Murrow
103. History is littered with wars which everybody knew would never happen. ~Enoch Powell
104. The first casualty of war is not truth, but perspective. Once that's gone, truth, like compassion, reason, and all the other virtues, wanders around like a wounded orphan. ~Ente Grillenhaft
105. We must get away from the idea that America is to be the leader of the world in everything. ~Francis John McConnell
106. The State acquires power... and because of its insatiable lust for power it is incapable of giving up any of it. The State never abdicates. ~Frank Chodorov
107. The pertinent question: if Americans did not want these wars should they have been compelled to fight them? ~Frank Chodorov
108. It is not that power corrupts but that power is a magnet to the corruptible. ~Frank Herbert
109. All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. ~Frank Herbert
110. War is a racket. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. ~General Smedley Butler
111. War is just a racket...I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. ~General Smedley Butler
112. Our enemies are innovative and resourceful...They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we. ~George W. Bush About the quote: From remarks by the president at the signing of The Defense Appropriations Act for 2005 (8/5/04)
113. What experience and history teach is this-that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it. ~Georg W. Hegel
114. The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders...tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. ~Herman Goering
115. The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home. ~James Madison
116. Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~John Adams
117. Whether or not patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, national security can be the last refuge of the tyrant. ~Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe About the quote: from 1/14/05
118. The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to foreign hands should be curtailed, lest Rome fall. ~Marcus Tullius Cicero
119. What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make some gain that you believe to be to your advantage. ~Marcus Tullius Cicero
120. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ~Margaret Mead
121. The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same. ~Marie Beyle
122. It takes more courage to get out of a war than it does to get into one. ~Mark Couturier
123. Look at you in war...There has never been a just one, never an honorable one, on the part of the instigator of the war. ~Mark Twain About the quote: from "The Mysterious Stranger," published 1910.

124. Man is the only animal that is cruel. It kills just for the sake of it. ~Mark Twain

125. Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. ~Mark Twain
126. Why, the Government is merely...a temporary servant...Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. ~Mark Twain
127. Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. ~Mark Twain
128. The statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is being attacked, and every man will be glad of these conscience-soothing falsities ~Mark Twain
129. I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land. ~Mark Twain About the quote: From an interview, 9/15/1900
130. Be loyal to your country always, and to the government only when it deserves it. ~Mark Twain
131. Let not your zeal to share your principles entice you beyond your borders. ~Marquis de Sade
132. Social order at the expense of liberty is hardly a bargain. ~Marquis de Sade
133. Is it not a strange blindness on our part to teach publicly the techniques of warfare and to reward with medals those who prove to be the most adroit killers? ~Marquis de Sade
134. What is more immoral than war? ~Marquis de Sade
135. There are many terrorist states in the world, but the United States is unusual in that it is officially committed to international terrorism. ~Noam Chomsky About the quote: from his book "Necessary Illusions" (p. 270)
136. Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it. ~Noam Chomsky
137. Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich. ~Sir Peter Ustinov
138. There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. ~Sun Tzu
139. The worst crimes were dared by a few, willed by more and tolerated by all. ~Tacitus
140. To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace. ~Tacitus
141. The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media. ~William Colby, former CIA director About the quote: as quoted by Dave McGowan in his book "Derailing Democracy"
142. If you want war, nourish a doctrine. Doctrines are the most frightful tyrants to which men ever are subject... ~William Graham Sumner
143. The greatest crime since World War II has been US foreign policy. ~William Ramsey Clark About the quote: William Ramsey Clark was US Attorney General under Lyndon B. Johnson
144. The statesman who yields to war fever...is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. ~Winston Churchill
145. When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise. ~Winston Churchill
146. Wars teach us not to love our enemies, but to hate our allies. ~W. L. George
147. To fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fibre of national life... ~Woodrow Wilson

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