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War Quotes

War, remembered and reckoned with.

This topic pairs literary observation, such as a novelist's take on the social fabric depicted in a sprawling Tolstoy epic, with hard historical fact about the 1962 border conflict between China and India. Readers interested in broader historical context can visit History.

There's this romantic idea that's built up around war. But the pragmatic view is there are tons of people of my generation who have lost their lives, lost their marriages, or lost their health as a consequence of being sent...

Quotes by Pete Buttigieg

Let's be under no illusions: There are attacks on, for example, transgender Americans from the Oval Office, picking on troops - people willing to lay down their lives for this country - not to mention teenagers in our high schools....

Quotes by Pete Buttigieg

Why would we start demanding negotiations over sovereignty of the Falklands right now, 30 years since the war, and not 31 years or any other date?

Quotes by Pepe Eliaschev

Man has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder.

Quotes by Percy Bysshe Shelley

War is the statesman's game, the priest's delight, the lawyer's jest, the hired assassin's trade.

Quotes by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I had a very difficult father. I lived in a war zone. My parents were very unhappy, and I lived through my mother's pain. Throughout my childhood, I was constantly trying to protect her from my father.

Quotes by Penny Junor

My house is full of paintings by my mother Pam. She was a fantastic, prolific artist but had no confidence in herself, thanks to my father running her down. They married during the war when she was 19 - she...

Quotes by Penny Junor

The truth is I'm a very traditional woman, and Rod - despite everything people may think - is a very traditional man. It's true he absolutely loves glamour, and he hasn't got a conventional job, but performing aside, he's happiest...

Quotes by Penny Lancaster

The battle for the mind of Ronald Reagan was like the trench warfare of World War I: never have so many fought so hard for such barren terrain.

Quotes by Peggy Noonan

That sense of what happened in Europe in World War II has shaped a lot of my views.

Quotes by Paul Wolfowitz

We did not go to war in Afghanistan or in Iraq to, quote, 'impose democracy.' We went to war in both places because we saw those regimes as a threat to the United States.

Quotes by Paul Wolfowitz

I mean, we're going to probably debate the Iraq war for at least as long as I'm alive.

Quotes by Paul Wolfowitz

One of the things that ultimately led me to leave mathematics and go into political science was thinking I could prevent nuclear war.

Quotes by Paul Wolfowitz

War damages men - and Syria is no different.

Quotes by Paul Wood

The environmental movement doesn't have many deserters and has a high level of recruitment. Eventually, there will be open war.

Quotes by Paul Watson

War: a massacre of people who don't know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don't massacre each other.

Quotes by Paul Valery

War was my university. Everything has proceeded from there.

Quotes by Paul Virilio

It will no longer be war that is the continuation of politics by other means, it will be what I have dubbed 'the integral accident' that is the continuation of politics by other means.

Quotes by Paul Virilio

In the account book of the Great War the page recording the Russian losses has been ripped out. The figures are unknown. Five millions, or eight? We ourselves know not.

Quotes by Paul von Hindenburg

And, gentlemen, they have not yet done so, and it is quite clear that no Americans, no people in the world probably, are going to war with the Soviet Union.

Quotes by Paul Robeson

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this page reference literature about war?
Yes. One quote reflects on reading novels that portrayed a world with a strong social fabric, noting: "People knew each other in 'War and Peace.'" It's a literary angle on the topic, rather than a historical or personal one. For more big-idea quotes, see Great quotes.
Is there a quote about the 1962 India-China border war?
Yes. One quote states plainly: "China invaded India, and there was a war between India and China in some of the disputed terrain in 1962, and India got hurt by that." It's a direct historical reference within the quote itself. Browse History quotes for more quotes rooted in real events.
Does this collection touch on the aftermath of World War I?
Yes. One quote describes how the end of the First World War had thrown Germany's youth into great turmoil, noting that the reins of power had fallen from the hands of a deeply disillusioned older generation. It's a sober historical observation.
Is there a quote that uses a chess metaphor to describe the war?
Yes - one quote compares the situation for Germany to an end game in chess in which she possessed one castle less than her adversary, adding that the loss of the war was as certain as the loss of an end game under those conditions. It's a vivid, strategic way of describing an outcome that felt inevitable. For more thought-provoking metaphors, see Life quotes.
What kinds of war-related quotes does this page bring together?
A mix of literary reflection, direct historical fact, and vivid metaphor - from a mention of 'War and Peace,' to the 1962 India-China border war, to World War I's aftermath in Germany, to a chess-based description of a war's inevitable loss. For more first-person reflections, see Me quotes.

Two entries look at Germany's condition in the aftermath of its 1918 defeat, one describing the disillusionment of a younger generation and the other comparing the loss to an inevitable endgame in chess. For more reflective lines, see Great or Life.