I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, The one I feed the most. On Other Peoples Expectations: The only man who behaved sensibly was my tailor; he took my measurement anew every time he saw me, while all the rest went on with their old measurements and expected them to fit me.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
It’s when you’re safe at home that you wish you were having an adventure. When you’re having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
What rights are those that dare not resist for them?
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
The war existing between the senses and reason.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
There can be no reconciliation where there is no open warfare. There must be a battle, a brave boisterous battle, with pennants waving and cannon roaring, before there can be peaceful treaties and enthusiastic shaking of hands.
—Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835–1915) English Novelist
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
After all the field of battle possesses many advantages over the drawing-room. There at least is no room for pretension or excessive ceremony, no shaking of hands or rubbing of noses, which make one doubt your sincerity, but hearty as well as hard hand-play. It at least exhibits one of the faces of humanity, the former only a mask.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
A good swordsman is not given to quarrel.
—French Proverb
When the fight begins within himself, a man’s worth something.
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet
France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war.
—Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970) French General, Statesman
A country cannot simultaneously prepare and prevent war.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Remember that when you meet your antagonist, to do everything in a mild agreeable manner. Let your courage be keen, but, at the same time, as polished as your sword.
—Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) Irish-born British Playwright, Poet, Elected Rep
What good is it if I talk in flowers while you’re thinking in pastry?
—Ashleigh Brilliant (b.1933) British Cartoonist, Author
We are the prisoners of ideas.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The effect of violent dislike between groups has always created an indifference to the welfare and honor of the state.
—Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–59) English Historian, Essayist, Philanthropist
In a battle all you need to make you fight is a little hot blood and the knowledge that it’s more dangerous to lose than to win.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
No one from the beginning of time has had security.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?
—James Thurber
When one ceases from conflict, whether because he has won, because he has lost, or because he cares no more for the game, the virtue passes out of him.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
I believe in getting into hot water. I think it keeps you clean.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
He who calls in the aid of an equal understanding, doubles his own; and he who profits by a superior understanding, raises his powers to a level with the height of the understanding he unites with.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
What a man knows is everywhere at war with what he wants.
—Joseph Wood Krutch (1893–1970) American Writer, Critic, Naturalist
All men have an instinct for conflict: at least, all healthy men.
—Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) British Historian, Poet, Critic
Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict—alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence.
—Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American Journalist, Radio Personality
Those that are the loudest in their threats are the weakest in the execution of them.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Like a ball bated back and forth, a human being is batted by two forces within.
—The Upanishads Sacred Books of Hinduism
We know better than we do. We do not yet possess ourselves…
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The fibers of all things have their tension and are strained like the strings of an instrument.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher