War Quotes

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

"War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering."

"From the outset of the war, the Canadian people have clearly shown that it is their desire to help in every way to make Canada's war effort as effective as possible."

"The great thing about being a print journalist is that you are permitted to duck. Cameramen get killed while the writers are flat on the floor. A war correspondent for the BBC dedicated his memoir to 50 fallen colleagues, and I guarantee you they were all taking pictures. I am only alive because I am such a chicken."

"We have been terrorised by what happened in America and we express our condolences to the American people who suffered from this unexpected catastrophe and a new world war."

"It is obvious that taking the country from a state of war to being a lawful state won't be easy."

"War: a massacre of people who don't know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don't massacre each other."

"In the 1930s one was aware of two great evils - mass unemployment and the threat of war."

"When gasoline and rubber are rationed, electric power and transport facilities are becoming increasingly scarce, and manpower shortages are developing, it is difficult for people to understand their increased use for other than the most vital needs of war."

"It was a requirement by the veterans to list the 57,000 names. We're reaching a time that we'll acknowledge the individual in a war on a national level."

"Bad things do happen in the world, like war, natural disasters, disease. But out of those situations always arise stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things."

"The atomic bomb made the prospect of future war unendurable. It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass; and beyond there is a different country."

"Having seen war, you obviously learned to hate war."

"One cannot wage war under present conditions without the support of public opinion, which is tremendously molded by the press and other forms of propaganda."

"The target of preventive war must have several characteristics. It must be virtually defenceless; it must be important enough to be worth the trouble; it must be possible to portray it as the ultimate evil and an imminent threat to our survival."

"Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey 'people.' People say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war... Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of the rest."

"Anyone who thinks must think of the next war as they would of suicide."

"World War II, the atomic bomb, the Cold War, made it hard for Americans to continue their optimism."

"In 2007, I was given the humbling privilege of being made an honorary member of the United States Marine Corps in recognition of my visits to troops during the Iraq War."

"The prescription for endless war poses a far greater danger to Americans than perceived enemies do, for reasons the terrorist organisations understand very well."