War settles nothing … to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one!
An Autobiography (1977)
Agatha Christie, English writer (1890–1976)
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Peace is the only battle worth waging.
Combat (1945)
Albert Camus, French philosopher, writer and journalist (1913–1960)
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I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.
[Interview with George Sylvester Viereck, 1931]
Albert Einstein, German theoretical physicist (1879–1955)
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The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.
[Telegram to prominent Americans, 1946]
Albert Einstein, German theoretical physicist (1879–1955)
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There are not fifty ways of fighting, there’s only one, and that’s to win. Neither revolution nor war consists in doing what one pleases.
L’Espoir (1937)
André Malraux, French writer (1901–1976)
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We are in an armed conflict; that is the phrase I have used. There has been no declaration of war.
[Speech on the Suez crisis, House of Commons, 1956]
Anthony Eden, prime minister of the UK (1897–1977)
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Love, friendship, respect do not unite people as much as common hatred for something.
Notebooks (1921)
Anton Chekhov, Russian writer (1860–1904)
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If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Mother Teresa, Albanian nun and missionary (1910–1997)
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After each war there is a little less democracy to save.
Once Around the Sun (1951)
Brooks Atkinson, American theatre critic and writer (1894–1984)
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It is not violence that best overcomes hate — nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury.
Jane Eyre (1847)
Charlotte Brontë, English writer (1816–1855)
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First, we are going to cut it off, and then, we are going to kill it.
[Pentagon press briefing on the Gulf War, 1991]
Colin Powell, US general and politician (1937–)
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It takes in reality only one to make a quarrel. It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion.
Outspoken Essays: First Series “Patriotism” (1919)
Dean Inge, English writer, priest and educator (1860–1954)
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A man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he cannot sit on it.
Philosophy of Plotinus (1923)
Dean Inge, English writer, priest and educator (1860–1954)
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History is littered with the wars which everybody knew would never happen.
The Times (1967)
Enoch Powell, British politician and scholar (1912–1998)
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All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.
Homage to Catalonia (1938)
George Orwell, English writer (1903–1950)
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The weak have one weapon: the errors of those who think they are strong.
The Observer (1962)
Georges Bidault, prime minister of France (1899–1983)
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I renounce war for its consequences, for the lies it lives on and propagates, for the undying hatred it arouses, for the dictatorships it puts in the place of democracy, for the starvation that stalks after it.
[Armistice Day sermon in New York, 1933]
Harry Emerson Fosdick, American pastor (1878–1969)
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Older men declare war. But it is the youth who must fight and die.
[Speech in Chicago to the 23rd Republican national convention, 1944]
Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the US (1874–1964)
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Peace is not made at the council table or by treaties, but in the hearts of men.
Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the US (1874–1964)
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Those who in quarrels interpose
Must often wipe a bloody nose.
Fables (1727)
John Gay, English poet (1685–1732)
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If the thrill of hunting were in the hunt, or even in the marksmanship, a camera would do just as well.
Eating Animals (2009)
Jonathan Safran Foer, American writer (1977–)
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If peace cannot be maintained with honour, it is no longer peace.
[Speech in Greenock, 1853]
Lord John Russell, prime minister of the UK (1792–1878)
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A war can perhaps be won single-handedly. But peace — lasting peace — cannot be secured without the support of all.
[Speech to the UN, 2003]
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil (1945–)
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All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today.
[Speech to Congress after the assassination of John F Kennedy, 1963]
Lyndon B Johnson, 36th president of the US (1908–1973)
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I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian politician, social activist and writer (1869–1948)
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Non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.
[In response to a charge of sedition, 1922]
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian politician, social activist and writer (1869–1948)
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Weapons are like money; no one knows the meaning of enough.
Einstein’s Monsters (1987)
Martin Amis, British writer (1949–)
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You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.
Napoleon Bonaparte, French statesman and military leader (1769–1821)
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It is only a step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
[After the retreat from Moscow, 1812]
Napoleon Bonaparte