I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed.

In war, when a commander becomes so bereft of reason and perspective that he fails to understand the dependence of arms on Divine guidance, he no longer deserves victory.

It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.

War is the business of barbarians.

In war the heroes always outnumber the soldiers ten to one.

Probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, but the opening battles of all subsequent wars have been lost there.

You can’t say civilization don’t advance… in every war they kill you in a new way.

There is hardly such a thing as a war in which it makes no difference who wins. Nearly always one side stands more or less for progress, the other side more or less for reaction.

Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late.

One of the problems of organizing in the North, in the rich countries, is that people tend to think – even the activists – that instant gratification is required. You constantly hear: ‚Look I went to a demonstration, and we didn’t stop the war so what’s the use of doing it again?‘

In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.

If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.

War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans.

War is not merely a political act but a real political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means.

I can tell you this: If I’m ever in a position to call the shots, I’m not going to rush to send somebody else’s kids into a war.

You will kill 10 of our men, and we will kill 1 of yours, and in the end it will be you who tire of it.

I think that both parties should declare the debt limit as a political weapon of mass destruction which can’t be used. I mean, it is silly to have a country that has 237 years building up its reputation and then have people threaten to tear it down because they’re not getting some other matter.

War is the province of danger.

In my view of the present aspect of affairs, there is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course, and I may say in advance, there will be no blood shed unless it be forced upon the government. The government will not use force unless force is used against it.

It is not possible for civilization to flow backwards while there is youth in the world. Youth may be headstrong, but it will advance it allotted length.

Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain.

Gains achieved at great cost against our enemy in Afghanistan are reversible.

It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.

Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.

But does that mean that war and violence are inevitable? I would argue not because we have also evolved this amazingly sophisticated intellect, and we are capable of controlling our innate behavior a lot of the time.

Russia isn’t going to start a war. They can’t afford it. I think Mr. Putin can be dealt with if we stop screaming at him. You can work with the guy. You just have to know who he is.

War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.

The invasion of Iraq, particularly, gave a big shot in the arm to the jihadi extremists.

War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.

One of the good things about the way the Gulf War ended in 1991 is, you’d see the Vietnam veterans marching with the Gulf War veterans.

I think war is so incredibly backward, and I don’t think it’s intelligent, and it’s not sane. So why would you want to support it?

I shall proceed from the simple to the complex. But in war more than in any other subject we must begin by looking at the nature of the whole; for here more than elsewhere the part and the whole must always be thought of together.

A lot has happened over the years. And while this nation has been tested by war, and it’s been tested by recession and all manner of challenges – I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before.

At first when I heard about climate change, I was a climate denier. I didn’t think it was happening. Because if there really was an existential crisis like that, that would threaten our civilisation, we wouldn’t be focusing on anything else. That would be our first priority. So I didn’t understand how that added up.

I think God’s going to come down and pull civilization over for speeding.

War will never cease until babies begin to come into the world with larger cerebrums and smaller adrenal glands.

The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.

I think a lot of people, including me, clammed up when a civilian asked about battle, about war. It was fashionable. One of the most impressive ways to tell your war story is to refuse to tell it, you know. Civilians would then have to imagine all kinds of deeds of derring-do.

Experience has shown how deeply the seeds of war are planted by economic rivalry and social injustice.

Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.

I don’t think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space.

Reactionaries often describe both Marx and Lenin as theorists, without taking into consideration that their utopias inspired Russia and China – the two countries called upon to lead a new world which will allow for human survival if imperialism does not first unleash a criminal, exterminating war.

In 1962, war was avoided by Khrushchev’s willingness to accept Kennedy’s hegemonic demands.

Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war.

You accept that this civilisation could be abolished and life will begin later on after a few thousand years because that is something that has happened in the history of this planet. When you have peace in yourself and accept, then you are calm enough to do something, but if you are carried by despair there is no hope.

As I’ve said, there were patriots who supported this war, and patriots who opposed it. And all of us are united in appreciation for our servicemen and women, and our hopes for Iraqis‘ future.

The ultimate tendency of civilization is towards barbarism.

Strike against war, for without you no battles can be fought!

It is not only the living who are killed in war.

In war, you win or lose, live or die – and the difference is just an eyelash.

The dropping of bombs on people – isn’t that terrorism?

In remembering the appalling suffering of war on both sides, we recognise how precious is the peace we have built in Europe since 1945.

Even philosophers will praise war as ennobling mankind, forgetting the Greek who said: ‚War is bad in that it begets more evil than it kills.‘

To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.

The myth of unlimited production brings war in its train as inevitably as clouds announce a storm.

Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man.

Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.

Mankind is not likely to salvage civilization unless he can evolve a system of good and evil which is independent of heaven and hell.

In war there is no substitute for victory.

Everybody has a job to do. There are people in Iraq on both sides of this war who do what they do for religious reasons, and they feel with God on their side. Some people are good at annihilating people. Maybe that’s their gift.

Politics is the womb in which war develops.