Aphorisms Galore!

War and Peace

74 aphorisms  ·  one comment

Aphorisms in This Category

tiny.ag/qgj3ivvu  ·   Fair (151 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

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

Henrik Ibsen, in War and Peace

tiny.ag/ognqp9t4  ·   Fair (102 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

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

Aldous Huxley, in Science and Religion and War and Peace

tiny.ag/piklxjab  ·   Fair (223 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

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

tiny.ag/ry32bjva  ·   Fair (823 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Catch-22 (paperback)

The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on.

Joseph Heller, Catch-22, in War and Peace

tiny.ag/ldizacqu  ·   Fair (337 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Foundation (paperback)

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Isaac Asimov, Foundation (Salvor Hardin), in War and Peace and Wisdom and Ignorance

tiny.ag/5mrm7cdg  ·   Fair (3018 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

The Greek Way (paperback)

It was a Roman who said it was sweet to die for one's country. The Greeks never said it was sweet to die for anything. They had no vital lies.

Edith Hamilton, The Greek Way, in Life and Death and War and Peace

tiny.ag/rkg7iuvl  ·   Fair (230 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

The graveyards are full of indispensable men.

Charles de Gaulle, in War and Peace

tiny.ag/xm0eggq6  ·   Fair (195 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.

David Friedman, in War and Peace

tiny.ag/lgkszg2d  ·   Fair (431 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Benjamin Franklin, in Law and Politics and War and Peace

tiny.ag/fiog0z7u  ·   Fair (1221 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

The Devil's Dictionary (paperback)

Alliance: In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted into each others' pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third.

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

tiny.ag/ghcdyyrg  ·   Fair (973 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

The Devil's Dictionary (paperback)

Cannon: An instrument used in the rectification of national boundaries.

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

tiny.ag/zl0ikbnv  ·   Fair (427 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

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

Ambrose Bierce, in Vice and Virtue and War and Peace

tiny.ag/tldrjftc  ·   Fair (1115 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

The Devil's Dictionary (paperback)

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

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

tiny.ag/2cctxyhg  ·   Fair (610 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

If we fight a war and win it with H-bombs, what history will remember is not the ideals we were fighting for but the methods we used to accomplish them. These methods will be compared to the warfare of Genghis Khan who ruthlessly killed every last inhabitant of Persia.

Hans A. Bethe, in War and Peace

tiny.ag/sxpzikiy  ·   Fair (810 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

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

tiny.ag/hfj4loeb  ·   Fair (825 ratings)  ·  submitted 1998

The pen may be stronger than the sword... but I'd rather have a sword in a dark alley.

Andrew Warnick, in War and Peace

tiny.ag/is5ffzu6  ·   Fair (304 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election.

Bill Vaughan, in Law and Politics and War and Peace

tiny.ag/rh5oemag  ·   Fair (590 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

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

Sun Tzu, in War and Peace

tiny.ag/rb8m34k9  ·   Fair (968 ratings)  ·  submitted 1999

All warfare is based on deception.

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

tiny.ag/4vs8cciz  ·   Fair (210 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

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

N. F. Simpson, in War and Peace