# Quotes about war - Quotes: 45 - Authors: 19 - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war ## Quotes > [C]aution and vigilance are the most important lessons of the art of war. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > There is no surer proof of the military skill of the Romans, than their first surmounting the idle terror, and afterwards disdaining the dangerous use, of elephants in war. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > Most armies are in fact run by their sergeants — the officers are there just to give things a bit of tone and prevent warfare from becoming a mere lower-class brawl. [Terry Pratchett](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett.md) · [The Carpet People](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/the-carpet-people.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/the-carpet-people/most-armies-are.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > “That was the time to begin all-out preparations for war.” > > “On the contrary. That was the time to begin all-out prevention of war.” [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation/that-was-the.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > First, there must be an end to war and national rivalry and only then could one turn to the internal miseries that, after all, had external conflict as their chief cause. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [The Currents of Space](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-currents-of-space.md) · p. 63 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-currents-of-space/first-there-must.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > How then to enforce peace? Not by reason, certainly, nor by education. If a man could not look at the fact of peace and the fact of war and choose the former in preference to the latter, what additional argument could persuade him? What could be more eloquent as a condemnation of war than war itself? What tremendous feat of dialectic could carry with it a tenth the power of a single gutted ship with its ghastly cargo? [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [The Currents of Space](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-currents-of-space.md) · p. 61 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-currents-of-space/how-then-to-enforce.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > Nonsense. You are a military man and should know better. If there is one science into which man has probed continuously and successfully, it is that of military technology. No potential weapon would remain unrealized for ten thousand years. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [The Stars, Like Dust](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-stars-like-dust.md) · p. 33 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-stars-like-dust/nonsense-you-are.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > Trantor could win even such a war, but perhaps not without paying a price that would make victory only a pleasanter name for defeat. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [The Currents of Space](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-currents-of-space.md) · p. 62 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-currents-of-space/trantor-could-win.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [success and failure](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/success-and-failure.md) > Kolya believed that the Mongols’ expansion was pathological. It was a ghastly spiral of positive feedback, born of Genghis Khan’s unquestioned military genius and fueled by easy conquests, a plague of insanity and destruction that had spread across most of the known world. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [Time's Eye](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/times-eye.md) · p. 289 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/times-eye/kolya-believed-that.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > Of course, we in the so-called developed countries thought we were civilized. At least war wasn't respectable any more, and the United Nations was always doing its best to stop the wars that did break out.' 'Not very successfully: I'd give it about three out of ten...' [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [3001 The Final Odyssey](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/3001-the-final-odyssey.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/3001-the-final-odyssey/of-course-we-in-the.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > The bridge remained as if under sentence of death, but none the less still whole and untouched, between the two warring sides. [Ivo Andric](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ivo-andric.md) · [The Bridge on the Drina](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ivo-andric/the-bridge-on-the-drina.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ivo-andric/the-bridge-on-the-drina/the-bridge-remained.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > Preguntaréis ¿por qué su poesía > > no nos habla del sueño, de las hojas, > > de los grandes volcanes de su país natal?Venid a ver la sangre por las calles, > > venid a ver > > la sangre por las calles, > > venid a ver la sangre > > por las calles! [Pablo Neruda](https://www.leafyquotes.com/pablo-neruda.md) · [Residencia en la Tierra / Residence on Earth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/pablo-neruda/residencia-en-la-tierra-residence-on-earth.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/pablo-neruda/residencia-en-la-tierra-residence-on-earth/preguntareis-por-que.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > I want you to make love, not war — I know you've heard it before. Mind Games Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of rumors. [Stephen Crane](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane.md) · [The Red Badge of Courage](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane/the-red-badge-of-courage.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane/the-red-badge-of-courage/the-cold-passed.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > He had fought like a pagan who defends his religion. [Stephen Crane](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane.md) · [The Red Badge of Courage](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane/the-red-badge-of-courage.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane/the-red-badge-of-courage/he-had-fought.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > The line, broken into moving fragments by the ground, went calmly on through fields and woods. The youth looked at the men nearest him, and saw, for the most part, expressions of deep interest, as if they were investigating something that had fascinated them. One or two stepped with overvaliant airs as if they were already plunged into war. Others walked as upon thin ice. The greater part of the untested men appeared quiet and absorbed. They were going to look at war, the red animal — war, the blood-swollen god. And they were deeply engrossed in this march. [Stephen Crane](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane.md) · [The Red Badge of Courage](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane/the-red-badge-of-courage.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane/the-red-badge-of-courage/the-line-broken.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > It rained. The procession of weary soldiers became a bedraggled train, despondent and muttering, marching with churning effort in a trough of liquid brown mud under a low, wretched sky. Yet the youth smiled, for he saw that the world was a world for him, though many discovered it to be made of oaths and walking sticks. He had rid himself of the red sickness of battle. The sultry nightmare was in the past. He had been an animal blistered and sweating in the heat and pain of war. He turned now with a lover's thirst to images of tranquil skies, fresh meadows, cool brooks — an existence of soft and eternal peace. > > Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden rain clouds. [Stephen Crane](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane.md) · [The Red Badge of Courage](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane/the-red-badge-of-courage.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane/the-red-badge-of-courage/it-rained-the.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [hope](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope.md) > At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage. [Stephen Crane](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane.md) · [The Red Badge of Courage](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane/the-red-badge-of-courage.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-crane/the-red-badge-of-courage/at-times-he-regarded.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [courage](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/courage.md) > I can understand why mankind hasn't given up war. During a war you get to drive tanks through the sides of buildings and shoot foreigners— two things that are usually frowned on during peacetime. Holidays in Hell Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > Wherever there's injustice, oppression, and suffering, America will show up six months late and bomb the country next to where it's happening. Peace Kills Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > War will exist as long as there's a food chain. Holidays in Hell Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > When a war breaks out, people say: "It's too stupid; it can't last long." But though the war may well be "too stupid," that doesn't prevent its lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Plague](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague/when-a-war.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [stupidity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity.md) > ...the crucial Battle of Zamość, which is not stressed in most current histories because it involved a Polish-Russian battle in which the Poles won. [James A. Michener](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener.md) · [Poland](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/poland.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/poland/the-crucial-battle.md) Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md), [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > The soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war; is applauded by those whose own act and authority he disregards and sets at naught; as if the state were penitent to that degree that it hired one to scourge it while it sinned, but not to that degree that it left off sinning for a moment. Civil Disobedience Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [hypocrisy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy.md) > When a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize. What makes this duty the more urgent is the fact that the country so overrun is not our own, but ours is the invading army. Civil Disobedience Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice.md) > Wars always bring about a conservative reaction. They overwhelm and destroy patient and careful efforts to improve the condition of man. Nothing can be heard in the cannon's roar but the voice of might. All the safeguards laboriously built to preserve individual freedom and foster man's welfare are blown to pieces with shot and shell. In the presence of the wholesale slaughter of men the value of life is cheapened to the zero point. What is one life compared with the almost daily records of tens of thousands or more mowed down like so many blades of grass in a field? Building up a conception of the importance of life is a matter of slow growth and education; and the work of generations is shattered and laid waste by machine guns and gases on a larger scale than ever before. Great wars have been followed by an unusually large number of killings between private citizens and individuals. These killers have become accustomed to thinking in terms of slaying and death toward all opposition, and these have been followed in turn by the most outrageous legal penalties and a large increase in the number of executions by the state. It is perfectly clear that hate begets hate, force is met with force, and cruelty can become so common that its contemplation brings pleasure, when it should produce pain. The Story Of My Life Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > I wish Europe would let Russia annihilate Turkey a little--not much, but enough to make it difficult to find the place again without a divining-rod or a diving-bell. [Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [The Innocents Abroad](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-innocents-abroad.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-innocents-abroad/i-wish-europe.md) Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > God is on the side of the big battalions. [George Bernard Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw.md) · [Saint Joan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/saint-joan.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/saint-joan/god-is-on-the.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > You can always tell an old soldier by the inside of his holsters and cartridge boxes. The young ones carry pistols and cartridges; the old ones, grub. [George Bernard Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw.md) · [Arms and the Man](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/arms-and-the-man.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/arms-and-the-man/you-can-always.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > Deep ditch, single drawbridge, massive stone walls, eight great towers, cannon, muskets, fire and smoke. One drawbridge down! "Work, comrades all, work! Work, Jacques One, Jacques Two, Jacques One Thousand, Jacques Two Thousand; in the name of all the angels or the devils — which you prefer — work!" [Charles Dickens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens.md) · [A Tale of Two Cities](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities/deep-ditch-single.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > "No sentimentality, comrade!" cried Snowball from whose wounds the blood was still dripping. "War is war. The only good human being is a dead one." [George Orwell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell.md) · [Animal Farm](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm/no-sentimentality-comrade.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [hatred](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hatred.md) > An example of this is the failure of the numerous and vocal English pacifists to raise their voices against the prevalent worship of Russian militarism. According to those pacifists, all violence is evil, and they have urged us at every stage of the war to give in or at least to make a compromise peace. But how many of them have ever suggested that war is also evil when it is waged by the Red Army? Apparently the Russians have a right to defend themselves, whereas for us to do [so] is a deadly sin. [George Orwell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell.md) · [Animal Farm](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm/an-example-of-this.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [hypocrisy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy.md) > Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves. The Second World War: Closing The Ring Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > One day President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war should be called. I said at once 'The Unnecessary War'. The Second World War: Closing The Ring Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > Their horse cavalry, of which they had twelve brigades, charged valiantly against the swarming tanks and armoured cars but could not harm them with their swords and lances. The Second World War: Closing The Ring Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > This was one of the heaviest blows I can recall during the war....It was a bitter moment. Defeat is one thing; disgrace is another. The Second World War: Closing The Ring · p. 343 Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > Silly people, and there are many, not only in enemy countries, might discount the force of the United States. Some said they were soft, others that they would never be united. They would fool around at a distance. They would never come to grips. They would never stand bloodletting. Their democracy and system of recurrent elections would paralyse their war horizon to friend or foe. Now we should see the weakness of this numerous but remote, wealthy, and talkative people. But I had studied the American Civil War, fought out to the last desperate inch. The Second World War: Closing The Ring · p. 540 Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Good Will. The Second World War: Closing The Ring Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > Fascism was the shadow or ugly child of communism... As Fascism sprang from Communism, so Nazism developed from Fascism. Thus were set on foot those kindred movements which were destined soon to plunge the world into more hideous strife, which none can say has ended with their destruction. The Second World War: Closing The Ring · p. 13 Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md), [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > Of course, when you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise. The Second World War: Closing The Ring Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [success and failure](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/success-and-failure.md) > No American will think it wrong of me if I proclaim that to have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. I could not foretell the course of events. I do not pretend to have measured accurately the martial might of Japan, but now at this very moment I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all! ... Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder. The Second World War: Closing The Ring Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > Those who are prone, by temperament and character, to seek sharp and clear-cut solutions of difficult and obscure problems, who are ready to fight whenever some challenge comes from a foreign power, have not always been right. On the other hand, those whose inclination is to bow their heads, to seek patiently and faithfully for peaceful compromise, are not always wrong. On the contrary, in the majority of instances they may be right, not only morally, but from a practical standpoint. How many wars have been averted by patience and persisting good will! Religion and virtue alike lend their sanctions to meekness and humility, not only between men but between nations. How many wars have been precipitated by firebrands! How many misunderstandings which led to wars could have been removed by temporizing! How often have countries fought cruel wars and then after a few years found themselves not only friends but allies! The Second World War: Closing The Ring Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril. The Second World War: Closing The Ring · p. 529 Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [fear](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear.md) > War is mainly a catalogue of blunders. The Second World War: Closing The Ring Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [mistakes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mistakes.md) > Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein, we never had a defeat. The Second World War: Closing The Ring Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [success and failure](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/success-and-failure.md)