wars quotes

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

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.

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.

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 caused by undefended wealth.

Wars have never hurt anybody except the people who die.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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