Quotes About Conflict

It's not right to respond to terrorism by terrorizing other people. And furthermore, it's not going to help. Then you might say, "Yes, it's terrorizing people, but it's worth doing because it will end terrorism." But how much common sense does it take to know that you cannot end terrorism by indiscriminately dropping bombs?

Indeed, it is impossible to be neutral. In a world already moving in certain directions, where wealth and power are already distributed in certain ways, neutrality means accepting the way things are now. It is a world of clashing interests -- war against peace, nationalism against internationalism, equality against greed, and democracy against elitism -- and it seems to me both impossible and undesirable to be neutral in those conflicts.

The term "just war" contains an internal contradiction. War is inherently unjust, and the great challenge of our time is how to deal with evil, tyranny, and oppression without killing huge numbers of people.

Again and again, Americans have voted for a president to keep them out of a war, only to see the "peace" candidate elected who then brings the nation into war.

When a nation issues ultimatums, it leaves no room for compromise and ensures that war will continue.

The pretense in disputed elections is that the great conflict is between the two major parties. The reality is that there is a much bigger conflict that the two parties jointly wage against large numbers of Americans who are represented by neither party and against powerless millions around the world.

With the indiscriminate nature of modern military technology (no such thing as a "smart bomb," it turns out) all wars are wars against civilians, and are therefore inherently immoral. This is true even when a war is considered "just," because it is fought against a tyrant, against an aggressor, to correct a stolen boundary.

What happened in World War II was what happened in war generally, and that was whatever the initiating cause, and however clear the moral reason is for the war in which one side looks better than the other, by the time the war ends both sides have been engaged in evil.

War is a war. Everywhere is hard and bloody, but the Balkans in it bring their coloring and passion. Someone happened to be on the right side. But, madam, be without worry: it is not so far a day when both sides will become the same and when it will not be known which side of the story is right.

Meet Curly and Mo," I said. "I want you to divide into two groups and form an orderly queue to give these two a bit of stick. Basically, do what you like to them. Punch them, kick them, knee them in the knackers. Pretend they're your boss, your spouse, or whoever's been giving you grief lately.

I'd just dropped an emotional bombshell on my father. And it didn't seem to have gone off.

A new dynasty is never founded without a struggle. Blood makes good manure.

Some of the most dangerous people are the ones you're related to.

His rage was a saw, going back and forth, cutting through arteries, hers.

Fear, ignorance, and hatred - these are the trinity of malice.

For women, men creates war even though women are the symbols of love, peace, and harmony.

Respond with love and kindness when someone trying to hate you and hurt you.

Still humanity is in her infancy, so often we engage in fighting to destroy ourselves.

We are trying to build peace by inventing new war machines; if that isn't insanity than what is?

He stood at the entrance to the kitchen, blocking my path to the front door like the Berlin Wall.

Aren't we at the point where the closer we get to chaos, the more concern that there should be about coming to the table and compromising with Democrats? This is not leadership. This is almost like dictatorship.

Unfortunately, the Republican leadership in the House right now seems to have been strangled by the tea party.

You can die trying to get along with a disagreeable man," she said, and I put a star beside it when I wrote it down and then taped it to the rear-view mirror for the rest of the drive. She hadn't said "abusive," I noticed; she had said that just disagreeable could kill you.

The non-Jewish Arab population of mandate Palestine, initially twice the size of the Yishuv, supported by Muslims throughout the Middle East, strongly resisted the Jewish intrusion into what they perceived as their nation.