War and Peace

Riot: A popular entertainment given to the military by innocent bystanders.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, in War and Peace

I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harms way.

John Paul Jones, in War and Peace

Coward: one who, in a perilous emergency, thinks with his legs.

Ambrose Bierce, in Vice and Virtue and War and Peace

Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.

Aldous Huxley, in Science and Religion and War and Peace

To save your world you asked this man to die;
Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?

W. H. Auden, "Epitaph for an Unknown Soldier", in War and Peace

You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and liberty.

Henrik Ibsen, in War and Peace

There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.

Victor Hugo, in Success and Failure and War and Peace

War is one of the scourges with which it has pleased God to afflict men.

Cardinal Richelieu, in War and Peace

I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded... I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed... I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, (Chautauqua, New York, August 14, 1936), in War and Peace

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, (inaugural speech, 1944), in War and Peace

Close the book and open your heart.

Nathan Rozenfarb, (on religious conflicts), in War and Peace

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.

Bertrand Russell, in War and Peace

When the rich make war it's the poor that die.

Jean-Paul Sartre, in War and Peace and Wealth and Poverty

Remember, to them it is us who are the enemy.

N. F. Simpson, in War and Peace

All warfare is based on deception.

Sun Tzu, The Art Of War, in War and Peace

Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.

Sun Tzu, in War and Peace

It is impossible to defend perfectly against the attack of those who want to die.

Unknown, in War and Peace

Katz' Law: Man and nations will act rationally when all other possibilities have been exhausted.

Unknown, in War and Peace

Join the Army: travel to exotic distant lands, meet exciting, unusual people and kill them.

Unknown, in War and Peace

It seems like the less a statesman amounts to, the more he loves the flag.

Unknown, in War and Peace