All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones.

Social struggles have been taking place throughout millennia, since human beings, by resorting to wars, were able to take hold of a surplus production to satisfy the essential needs of life.

The tragedy of America is that it entered all the wars with a consensus in favor of them, but within a defined period, the legitimacy of the war became a major domestic issue, with some people arguing that withdrawal was the only legitimate objective.

Wars are not paid for in wartime, the bill comes later.

I was a class clown. At 12, I was definitely clowning. I was making all the jokes. But I was smart, so the teachers didn’t know what to do with me.

Wars are, of course, as a rule to be avoided; but they are far better than certain kinds of peace.

Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.

I’ve never been reckless – it’s always calculated. I’m mischievous, but I’m calculated.

In Italy they take cheap cloth and make it look expensive, but I take expensive cloth and make it look cheap. They just don’t understand.

Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another?

I’m mischievous, but I’m calculated.

I was mischievous. I wasn’t bad. I stole food so we could eat. My mother didn’t know. I used to tell her some man gave me $10 to sweep out the yard. I was like Robin Hood. I took from the rich and gave to the poor. Me.

I’ve had grand pianos that are more expensive than, like, a year’s worth of rent.

If you think back to the beginning of cell phones, laptops or really any new technology, it’s always expensive.

Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.

Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change.

Don’t forget what I discovered that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past, present, and future wars.

The impulse to cruelty is, in many people, almost as violent as the impulse to sexual love – almost as violent and much more mischievous.

It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.

Wars are caused by undefended wealth.

Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

Like a baseball game, wars are not over till they are over. Wars don’t run on a clock like football. No previous generation was so hopelessly unrealistic that this had to be explained to them.

Wars have never hurt anybody except the people who die.

The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

Wars based on principle are far more destructive… the attacker will not destroy that which he is after.

The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.

It is true we have won all our wars, but we have paid for them. We don’t want victories anymore.

In the long term we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars.

Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.

America has fought five wars since 1945 and has gained its objectives in only one of them, the Gulf War.

All wars signify the failure of conflict resolution mechanisms, and they need post-war rebuilding of faith, trust and confidence.