Never has there been a good war or a bad peace
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
I am for anything in this world that keeps the problem of finding a substitute for war in people’s minds.
—Ida Tarbell (1857–1944) American Reform Journalist, Biographer
If conquerors be regarded as the engine-drivers of History, then the conquerors of thought are perhaps the pointsmen who, less conspicuous to the traveler’s eye, determine the direction of the journey.
—Arthur Koestler (1905–83) British Writer, Journalist, Political Refugee
Those who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German Novelist, Critic, Philanthropist, Essayist
I don’t know a greater advantage, than to appreciate the worth of an enemy.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Either man will abolish war, or war will abolish man.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
We cannot make a more lively representation and emblem to ourselves of hell, than by the view of a kingdom in war.
—Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (1609–74) English Statesman, Historian
When you’re operating on uninvestigated theories of what’s going on and you aren’t even aware of it, you’re in what I call “the dream”. Often the dream becomes troubling; sometimes it even turns into a nightmare. At times like these, you may want to test the truth of your theories by doing The Work on them. The Work always leaves you with less of your uncomfortable story. Who would you be without it? How much of your world is made up of unexamined stories? You’ll never know until you inquire.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Our modern states are preparing for war without even knowing the future enemy.
—Alfred Adler (1870–1937) Austrian Psychiatrist
They made the fatal decision: they’d chosen always the clear, safe course that leads ever downward into stagnation.
—Frank Herbert (1920–86) American Science Fiction Writer
Don’t try to be spiritual. That is only a word in the dictionary. Make it your goal to become a normally functioning individual. Let these principles shape you according to your real nature of a simple, decent, honest, unafraid human being.
—Vernon Howard (1918–92) American Author, Philosopher
A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most perfect prayer.
—Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–81) German Writer, Philosopher
The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more important than the shield and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.
—John Steinbeck (1902–68) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Journalist
What a country calls its vital economic interests are not the things which enable its citizens to live, but the things which enable it to make war. Petrol is more likely than wheat to be a cause of international conflict.
—Simone Weil (1909–1943) French Philosopher, Political Activist
The one distinctive advance in civil society achieved by the Anglo-Saxon world is fairly betokened by the passing away of this notion of a peculiar possession in the way of honor which had to be guarded by arms.
—Norman Angell (1872–1967) English Economist, Writer, Pacifist
What has kept the world safe from the bomb since 1945 has not been deterrence, in the sense of fear of specific weapons, so much as it’s been memory. The memory of what happened at Hiroshima.
—John Hersey (1914–93) American Novelist, Journalist
Frankly, I’d like to see the government get out of war altogether and leave the whole field to private industry.
—Joseph Heller (1923–99) American Novelist
With civilized men…, it is, I think, chiefly love of excitement which makes the populace applaud when war breaks out; the emotion is exactly the same as at a football match, although the results are sometimes somewhat more serious.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
How vile and despicable war seems to me! I would rather be hacked to pieces than take part in such an abominable business.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
War educates the senses, calls into action the will, perfects the physical constitution, brings men into such swift and close collision in critical moments that man measures man.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Moving along the upward spiral requires us to learn, commit, and do on increasingly higher planes. We deceive ourselves if we think that any one of these is sufficient. To keep progressing, we must learn, commit, and do—learn, commit, and do—and learn, commit, and do again.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
—Sun Tzu (fl.c.544–496 BCE) Chinese General, Military Theorist
Life yields only to the conqueror. Never accept what can be gained by giving in. You will be living off stolen goods, and your muscles will atrophy.
—Dag Hammarskjold (1905–61) Swedish Statesman, UN Diplomat
If goods don’t cross borders, armies will.
—Frederic Bastiat (1801–50) French Political Economist
O snap the fife and still the drums and show the monster as she is.
—Richard Le Gallienne (1866–1947) English Author, Poet
The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The superpowers often behave like two heavily armed blind men feeling their way around a room, each believing himself in mortal peril from the other, whom he assumes to have perfect vision.
—Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) American Diplomat, Academician
Five miles meandering with mazy motion,
Through dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank the tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And ‘mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
War! that mad game the world so loves to play.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
Leave a Reply