War Quotes (22)

War is the most readily available form of chaos. FRANK HERBERT, God Emperor of Dune

It makes no difference what men think of war.... War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. CORMAC MCCARTHY, Blood Meridian

I cannot get accustomed to war; my brain refuses to understand and explain a thing that is senseless in its basis. Millions of people gather at one place and, giving their actions order and regularity, kill each other, and it hurts everybody equally, and all are unhappy -- what is it if not madness? LEONID ANDREYEV, The Red Laugh

War among men defiles this world. T. S. ELIOT, Murder in the Cathedral

War is the statesman's game, the priest's delight,
The lawyer's jest, the hired assassin's trade.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, Queen Mab

War ends when it has rolled through cities and villages, everywhere sowing death and destruction. For such is the logic of war. If people do not display wisdom they will clash like blind moles and then mutual annihilation will commence. ROBERT McNAMARA, The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)

I ain't draft dodging. I ain't burning no flag. I ain't running to Canada. I'm staying right here. You want to send me to jail? Fine, you go right ahead. I've been in jail for 400 years. I could be there for 4 or 5 more, but I ain't going no 10,000 miles to help murder and kill other poor people. If I want to die, I'll die right here, right now, fightin' you, if I want to die. You my enemy, not no Chinese, no Vietcong, no Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. Want me to go somewhere and fight for you? You won't even stand up for me right here in America, for my rights and my religious beliefs. You won't even stand up for my right here at home. MUHAMMAD ALI, Ali (2001)

There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war except its ending. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Star Trek, "The Savage Curtain" (1969)

You can have war between races, war between cultures, war between planets. But once you have war between the sexes, you eventually run out of people. KERR AVON, Blakes 7, "Power" (1981)

Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room! PRESIDENT MERKIN MUFFLEY, Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Weapons never solve a problem, they only create more. Tony Stark, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, "Hide and Seek" (2009)

The history of war is the history of pain. If we are wise, what is born of that pain matures into the promise of a better world, because we learn that we can no longer afford the mistakes of the past. G'KAR, Babylon 5 (1994

The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function: without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends upon it. CAPTAIN RONALD SPEIRS, Band of Brothers (2001)

Everybody hates war but nobody ever does anything about it. KEVIN LEVIN, Ben 10: Alien Force, "Simple" (2009)

The best thing to do about a war is to get out of it. CAPTAIN PLANET, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, "The Ultimate Pollution" (1991)

War is coming. In foreign fields, war of the whole wide world, with all your boys falling down in the mud. Do you think they will thank the man who taught them it was glorious? JEREMY BAINES, Doctor Who, "The Family of Blood" (2007)

The cruel reality of war is that there is no return home. No return to innocence. What is lost, is lost forever. SARAH CONNOR, Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, "The Tower Is Tall But the Fall Is Short" (2008)

I was a warrior who dreamed he could bring peace. Sooner or later, though, you always have to wake up. JAKE SULLY, Avatar (2009)

Never underestimate the power of words. It only takes one word to start a war: "charge!" There's also a single word to end one: "armistice." SENATOR BLAKELY, Dakota Incident (1956)

The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug. CHRIS HEDGES, The Hurt Locker (2008)

War isn't hell at all. It's man at his best; the highest morality he's capable of. It's not war that's insane, you see. It's the morality of it. It's not greed or ambition that makes war, it's goodness. Wars are always fought for the best of reasons: for liberation or manifest destiny. Always against tyranny and always in the interest of humanity. So far this war, we've managed to butcher some ten million humans in the interest of humanity. Next war it seems we'll have to destroy all of man in order to preserve his damn dignity. It's not war that's unnatural to us, it's virtue. As long as valor remains a virtue, we shall have soldiers. So, I preach cowardice. Through cowardice, we shall all be saved. LT. COMMANDER CHARLES E. MADISON, The Americanization of Emily (1964)

Unity wins war. GENERAL SHAAK TI, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, "Clone Cadets" (2010)

Indians! Indians were the issue in those days. I can assure you, gentlemen, there is nothing quite so grotesque as the meeting of a child with a bullet; or an entire village slaughtered while sleeping. That was the government's resolution of that particular issue and I have seen nothing in its behavior since then that would persuade me that it has gained either in wisdom, common sense, or humanity. COLONEL WILLIAM LUDLOW, Legends of the Fall (1994)

Would be greatest blessing if all war fought with machinery instead of human beings. CHARLIE CHAN, Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937)

More War Quotes:
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World of Wars

A War Prayer by Mark Twain. Preachers, profiteers and politicians make war appear to be glorious. This is the text of Mark Twain's powerful illustration and a link to a youtube video version.

War: Who is responsible? by Lawrence M. Vance. Points out that the American government has created a mindset that when a person puts on a military uniform, they are no longer responsible for their actions on the killing fields. This is wrong.

War is a Racket by Major General Smedley Darlington Butler

The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that refuse military service. - Albert Einstein.

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

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." -MATTHEW 5:9

Neither shall they learn war any more. Jewish and Christian Bibles, Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3

Perhaps the world's largest collection of war, anti-war quotes:

Perhaps the world's largest war antiwar quotes

See also Power, Justice and Mercy Quotes