Quotes on War (3)

“That's not really a number I'm terribly interested in.” General Colin Powell, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, on being asked his assessment of Iraqi military and civilian casualties, April 1991
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Lesley Stahl: “I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima . — and you know, is the price worth it?”

Madeline Albright: “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price — we think the price is worth it.”

Former U.N. Ambassador Madeline Albright, responding to reporter Lesley Stahl as to whether the over half a million Iraqi children killed by the UN sanctions against Iraq were “worth it.” CBS May 11, 1996
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“And so long as they were at war, their power was preserved, but when they had attained empire they fell, for of the arts of peace they knew nothing, and had never engaged in any employment higher than war.” Aristotle, Politics
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“Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his method must inexorably choose falsehood as his principle. At its birth, violence acts openly and even with pride. But no sooner does it become strong, firmly established, than it senses the rarefaction of the air around it and it cannot continue to exist without descending into a fog of lies, clothing them in sweet talk. It does not always, not necessarily, openly throttle the throat, more often it demands from its subjects only an oath of allegiance to falsehood, only complicity in falsehood. And the simple step of a simple courageous man is not to partake in falsehood, not to support false actions! Let falsehood enter the world, let it even reign in the world-but not with my help.” Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970
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“Anyone who has proclaimed violence his method inexorably must choose lying as his principle” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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“As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless.” U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 , letter to Col. William F. Elkins, The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950 , NY)
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“As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead trying to kill me. They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are only doing their duty, as the saying goes. Most of them, I have no doubt, are kind-hearted law-abiding men who would never dream of committing murder in private life. On the other hand, if one of them succeeds in blowing me to pieces with a well-placed bomb, he will never sleep any worse for it. He is serving his country, which has the power to absolve him from evil.” George Orwell London , UK , 1941
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“Between 1898 and 1934, the Marines invaded Cuba 4 times, Nicaragua 5 times, Honduras 7 times, the Dominican Republic 4 times, Haiti twice, Guatemala once, Panama twice, Mexico 3 times and Columbia 4 times, Washington has intervened militarily in foreign countries more than 200 times.”

“If the people are not convinced (that the Free World is in mortal danger) it would be impossible for Congress to vote the vast sums now being spent to avert danger. With the support of public opinion, as marshaled by the press, we are off to a good start. It is our Job - yours and mine—to keep our people convinced that the only way to keep disaster away from our shores is to build up America 's might.” Charles Wilson, Chairman of the Board of General Electric and Truman appointee to head the Office of Defence Mobilization, in a speech to the Newspaper Publishers Association, 1950

The quotes above are from the book, “Addicted To War”

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“But why should we hear about body bags, and deaths, and how many, what day it's gonna happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Or, I mean, it's, it's not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?” Barbara Bush on ABC, Good Morning America , March 18, 2003
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“Can any reasonable man be well disposed toward a government which makes war and carnage the only means of supporting itself?” Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) Source: at the US Constitutional Convention
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“Democracy don't rule the world, you'd better get that in your head; this world is ruled by violence, but I guess that's better left unsaid.” Bob Dylan, American folksinger, b.1941
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“You have to show violence the way it is. If you don't show it realistically, then that's immoral and harmful. If you don't upset people, then that's obscenity.” Roman Polanski
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“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. War settles nothing.” Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States , 1890-1969
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“Do not hold the delusion that your advancement is accomplished by crushing others.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.), Roman statesman, philosopher and orator
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“The bad thing of war is, that it makes more evil people than it can take away.” Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), German philosopher
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“There are some whose only reason for inciting war is to use it as a means to exercise their tyranny over their subjects more easily. For in times of peace the authority of the assembly, the dignity of the magistrates, the force of the laws stand in the way to some extent of the ruler doing what he likes. But once war is declared then the whole business of state is subject to the will of a few ... They demand as much money as they like. Why say more?” Erasmus of Rotterdam (1469-1536), Adages IV.i.1

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“Don't be taken in when they paternally pat you on the shoulder and say that there's no inequality worth speaking of and no more reason to fight because if you believe them they will be completely in charge in their marble homes and granite banks from which they rob the people of the world under the pretence of bringing them culture. Watch out, for as soon as it pleases them they'll send you out to protect their gold in wars whose weapons, rapidly developed by servile scientists, will become more and more deadly until they can with a flick of the finger tear a million of you to pieces.” Jean-Paul Marat ( May 24, 1743– July 13, 1793 ), was a Swiss-born scientist and physician
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“Dress it as we may, feather it, daub it with gold, huzza it, and sing swaggering songs about it, what is war, nine times out of ten, but murder in uniform?” Douglas Jerrold
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“War hath no fury like a noncombatant.” Charles Edward Montague, Disenchantment
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“Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?” Holly Near

More War Quotes:
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25)

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

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