Quotes About Conflict

Two commanders on the same field are always one too many

Books about war were written to be read by God Almighty, because no one but God ever saw it that way.

These were the red hours of the conflict, hours no man who survived them would forget, even in his sleep, forever after. Fighting thus at arm's length across that parapet, they were caught up in a waking nightmare, although they were mercifully spared the knowledge, at the outset, that it was to last for another sixteen unrelenting hours.

You easy-living boys had better get set, they said. There's johnnies out there thicker than fleas on a billy goat in a barnlot

severing Sherman's life line he would provoke him into rashness or oblige him to retreat.

What did we go to war for, if not to protect our property?" R. M. T. Hunter wanted to know.

Grant agreed at least with the final sentence - which he later paraphrased and sharpened into a maxim: 'Two commanders on the same field are always one too many.' (p. 188)

All of the might of one side is mustered to defend and avenge the innocents; all of the cunning of the other is dedicated to slashing, again and again, at the world's greatest power by attacking the innocent. Utopia versus Dystopia.

In the end these efforts at postponing the issue of slavery failed. The Civil War put in doubt the capability of free politics to keep up with an expanded scale. The proof was in the failure of postwar Reconstruction: despite military occupation democracy and racial equality failed to take hold in the South.

Once the battle lines between communism and the "free society" were drawn, the economy became untouchable for purposes other than "strengthening" capitalism.

Superpower warfare is the real, if sardonic, version of class warfare: the less well-off fight wars instigated by the well-off, well-educated, and well-represented.

Decirle a la gente lo que realmente piensas es a menudo una idea malísima. Como solía decir la abuela, la gente sensata vierte aceite en aguas revueltas, no nitroglicerina.

Warriors are those who desire battle more than peace. Those who seek battle despite peace. Those who thump their spears on the group and talk of honor. Those who leap high in the battle dance and dream of glory.... The good of dead warriors, Mother, is that they are dead.

When you resort to violence to prove a point, you've just experienced a profound failure of imagination.

I always think it's funny when Indians celebrate Thanksgiving. I mean, sure, the Indians and Pilgrims were best friends during the first Thanksgiving, but a few years later, the Pilgrims were shooting Indians. So I'm never quite sure why we eat turkey like everybody else.

What if someone picks on me? I asked Then I'll pick on them. What if someone picks my nose? I asked. The I'll pick your nose, too Rowdy said.

So I heard the boom of my father's rifle when he shot my best friend. A bullet only costs about two cents, and anybody can afford that.

He could see his uncles slugging each other with such force that they had to be in love. Strangers would never want to hurt each other that badly.

it's like this white-Indian thing has gotten out of control. And the thing with the blacks and the Mexicans. Everybody blaming everybody...I don't know what happened. I can't explain it all. Just look around at the world. Look at this country. Things just aren't like they used to be.' 'Son, things have never been like what you think they used to be.

Traveling between Reardan and Wellpinit, between the little white town and the reservation, I always felt like a stranger. I was half Indian in one place and half white in the other. It was like being Indian was my job, but it was only a part-time job. And it didn't pay well at all.

I always think it's funny when Indians celebrate Thanksgiving. I mean, sure, the Indians and Pilgrims were best friends during that first Thanksgiving, but a few years later, the Pilgrims were shooting Indians. So I'm never quite sure why we eat turkey like everybody else. "Hey, Dad," I said. "What do Indians have to be so thankful for?" "We should give thanks that they didn't kill all of us.

The white people always want to fight someone and they always get the dark-skinned people to do the fighting.

He was going to punish me now. He couldn't beat me up with his old man fists, but he could hurt me with his old man words.

People can do things completely against their nature, completely. It's like some tiny earthquake comes roaring through your body and soul, and it's the only earthquake you'll ever feel. But it damages so much, cracks the foundations of your life forever.