War Quotes
Top 40 War
Quotes
No 1 (Best quote!)
We make war that we may live in peace.
- Aristotle (384–322 BC),
Greek philosopher, pictured right.
No 2
In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill,
- Winston Churchill (1874–1965), British
prime minister, pictured right.
Churchill also comments:
To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war
No 3
I think I had experienced first-hand what being ‘scared shitless’ really meant,
- Harry Parley, British soldier , pictured right.(talking about D-Day, June 1994).
No 4
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
(from the 1917 poem Anthem For Doomed Youth)
- Wilfred Owen (1893-1918), pictured right above, English poet and soldier in World War
One.
No 5
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
(from the 1915 poem In Flanders Fields)
- John McCrae (1872-1918), pictured right above, Canadian poet and surgeon in World War
One.
No 6
Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war,
- John Adams (1735-1826), American president,
pictured right.
No 7
Make love not war.
- student slogan of the 1960s.
No 8
There never was a good war, or a bad peace,
- Benjamin
Franklin (1706–90), American politician, philosopher and inventor, pictured right.
Cicero (106-43 BC), pictured
right, the Roman philosopher and politician, said similarly:
A bad peace is always better than a good war
No 9
Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.
- John F. Kennedy (1917–63), American
president, pictured right.
No 10
It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it
- Robert E. Lee (1807–70), American Confederate
general, pictured right. (after the battle of Fredericksburg, December 1862)
No 11
All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword,
(Matthew 26:52 in the Bible)
- Jesus (c4 BC-c30 AD), founder
of Christianity
No 12
Forgive me, comrade; how could you be my enemy? If we threw away these rifles and this uniform you could be my
brother just like Kat and Albert,
(Paul, Lew Ayres, pictured right in the 1930 film, speaking to the French soldier,
Duval, he has just killed in the 1929 novel All Quiet on the Western Front)
- Erich Remarque (1898-1970) German writer.
No 13
In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers.
- Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940), pictured right, British prime minister.
No 14
War is the continuation of politics by other means.
- Karl von Clausewitz, pictured right., On War
(1832)
No 15
All delays are dangerous in war.
(from the 1669 play Tyrannic Love)
- John Dryden (1631-1700), pictured right, English writer.
No 16
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
(talking about the Vietnam War).
- Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall, pictured right), in the 1979 film
Apocalypse Now.
No 17
I just know that every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel,
- Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks, pictured right) in the 1998 film,
Saving Private Ryan.
No 18
In warfare, the mental to the physical is as three is to one.
- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), pictured
right, French leader
Karl von
Clausewitz, pictured right., in his 1832 book also
comments:
Fighting...is a trial of moral and physical forces through the medium of the
latter.
No 19
War is cruelty.
- William Sherman (1820-91), Unionist general in the American Civil War, pictured
right.
No 20
The way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts.
- Omar Bradley (1893–1981), American World War Two general, pictured right.
No 21
Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone,
- Edith Cavell (1865-1915), pictured right, English nurse, who helped soldiers on both
sides in the First World War
No 22
War is a defeat for humanity.
- John Paul II (1920-2005), Polish pope,
pictured right
No 23
The morale of the soldier is the greatest single
factor in war.
- Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976), pictured right, British
general.
No 24
To be prepared for war is one of the most effective
means of preserving peace.
- George Washington (1732-99), pictured right, American
president.
No 25
The art of war is a simple act; everything is in the performance
- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), pictured
right, French leader.
No 26
Beware of bloodshed; do not trust in that, for spilled blood never
sleeps.
- Saladin
(c1137-93), pictured right, Turkish leader.
No 27
What is of supreme importance in war is to attack
the enemy’s strategy.
- Sun
Tzu (544-496 BC), pictured right, Chinese general.
No 28
There is only one principle of war...Hit the other fellow, as quickly as you can,
as hard as you can, where it hurts him most, when he ain’t lookin’.
- William Slim
(1891-1970), pictured right, British World War Two general
No 29
War will make corpses of us all.
(Faramir in The Lord of the
Rings)
- J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), English writer, pictured right
No 30
It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead.,
(from the 1961 novel Catch-22)
- Joseph Heller (1923-99), American writer, pictured right
No 31
My father fought in World War One single-handedly destroyed the Germans' lines of communication. He ate their
pigeon.
- Frank Carson (1926-2012), pictured right, Northern Irish comedian.
No 32
Those skilled in war subdue the enemy’s army without battle.
- Sun Tzu (544-496
BC), pictured right, Chinese general.
No 33
War is too important to be left to the generals.
- Georges Clemenceau (1849-1929), French prime minister, pictured
right .
No 34
All warfare is based upon deception.
- Sun
Tzu (544-496 BC), pictured right, Chinese general.
No 35
The greatest single factor in winning a war is the understanding of man
management,
- Bernard
Montgomery (1887-1976), pictured right, British general.
No 36
The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
- George S. Patton (1885-1945), World War Two general, pictured right .
No 37
Everything in war is very simple but the simplest thing is difficult.
- Karl von Clausewitz, pictured right., On War
(1832)
No 38
Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.
- Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), pictured right, American writer.
No 39
I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace.
- Ulysses S. Grant (1822-85), American president
and general (pictured right)
No 40
When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die.
- Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80), French
philosopher (pictured right).
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