Quotes About War

And one there was, a dreamer born, Who, with a mission to fulfill, Had left the Muses' haunts to turn The crank of an opinion-mill, Making his rustic reed of song A weapon in the war with wrong,... "A Tent on the Beach

and then staged a "war" between two indigenous tribes.

War is sometimes described as long periods of boredom punctuated by short moments of excitement. History is often similar, if rather safer.

War is personal, kid. You're surrounded by other soldiers, but you're fundamentally alone. Every combat soldier will tell you the same. You pull the trigger, and a man dies. You paint a tree with his brains or spill his guts out in the mud. The how of it don't signify, except in the nightmares, maybe, or what you see in the mirror first time you find the courage to look.

We the unwilling, led by the unqualified to kill the unfortunate, die for the ungrateful.

The principal aim of this book has been to reveal something of the complexity of the relationship between science and religion as they have interacted in the past. Popular generalizations about that relationship, whether couched in terms of war or peace, simply do not stand up to serious investigation. There is no such thing as the relationship between science and religion.

All morning they watched for the plane which they thought would be looking for them. They cursed war in general and PTs in particular. At about ten o'clock the hulk heaved a moist sigh and turned turtle.

The crux of the matter is whether total war in its present form is justifiable, even when it serves a just purpose. Does it not have material and spiritual evil as its consequences which far exceed whatever good might result? When will our moralists give us an answer to this question?

their faces were wholly burned, their eyesockets were hollow, the fluid from their melted eyes had run down their cheeks.

As for the use of the bomb, she would say, "It was war and we had to expect it." And then she would add, "Shikata ga nai," a Japanese expression as common as, and corresponding to, the Russian word "nichevo": "It can't be helped. Oh, well. Too bad." Dr. Fujii said approximately the same thing about the use of the bomb to Father Kleinsorge one evening, in German: "Da ist nichts zu machen. There's nothing to be done about it.

It seems logical that he who supports total war in principle cannot complain of a war against civilians.

At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on August 6, 1945, Japanese time . . . the moment when the atomic bomb flashed over Hiroshima . . . .

Yes, people of Hiroshima died manly in the atomic bombing, believing that it was for Emperor's sake.

Nonviolent action on behalf of justice is no automatic forumla with promise of success: but neither is war. After all, at least half of the people who go to war for some cause deemed worthy of it are defeated.

If the tradition which claims that war may be justified does not also admit that it could be unjustified, the affirmation is not morally serious. A Christian who prepares the case for a justified war without being equally prepared for hte negative case has not soberly weighted the prima facie presumption that any violence is wrong until the case for an exception has been made.

the destroyers that formed the outer picket line.

War was never glorious, never grand—except in the pronouncements pols and other noncombatants made about it. It was, as he had experienced it, mostly dirty, disorderly, boring, lonely, and, for brief intervals, terrifying.

Von Clausewitz («Toda guerra presupone la debilidad humana…») y de Sun Tzu («Dale a tus enemigos lo que esperan… esto los colocará en una situación de predictibilidad… mientras tú esperas el momento extraordinario, lo que ellos no pueden anticipar»)

A prisoner of war is supposed to be in uniform, and he's supposed to provide his name, rank, and serial number, when demanded. A man in a suit of clothes carrying phony identity cards and forged work permits? That man could easily be taken for a spy. When do you stop being the one and start being the other?

um nicht in einem völkerrechtswidrigen, unmoralischen Krieg zu kämpfen." "Der Reporter

In war, resources lead to success: in business, success leads to resources. This is a fundamental difference between the processes of war and competition.

Historically it was Europe, not India, which consistently made religion grounds for war and the state an instrument of persecution.

How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?

You've got to look after yourself, nothing comes for free and you've got to do the other bloke before he does you. That's what the pensioners don't realise. They might be owed something but there's nobody left to cough up. It's a different world now. The war spirit is dead and gone, packaged and sold off to the highest bidder.