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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.

We're in a world war.

Quotes by Michael T. Flynn

You come home when the war is won.

Quotes by Michael T. Flynn

My God, war is not about bathrooms. War is not about political correctness or words that are meaningless. War is about winning.

Quotes by Michael T. Flynn

We are in a global war with a radical and violent form of the Islamic religion, and it is irresponsible and dangerous to deny it.

Quotes by Michael T. Flynn

Given its Internet sophistication and the attraction the group has with vast numbers of potential recruits from among disaffected populations around the globe, ISIS has the realistic potential to eventually swell its ranks of jihadists waging a 'holy war' to...

Quotes by Michael T. Flynn

Put simply, we are still at war with radical Islamic groups and an ideological movement that can't be ignored nor wished away.

Quotes by Michael T. Flynn

We have to face the fact that ISIS and its army of like-minded jihadists are determined to win that war and believe they are on the path to victory. They may well be right.

Quotes by Michael T. Flynn

I think that our weakness is understanding that when we go to war, we go to war to win.

Quotes by Michael T. Flynn

We don't go to war to protect Pizza Hut or Burger King or some other things, some of the nonsense I've seen on our battlefields.

Quotes by Michael T. Flynn

When my father served in World War II, he wasn't told, 'Go to Europe for four months, for six months, and then you can come back, and there'll be plenty of big bases there for you to serve on, and...

Quotes by Michael T. Flynn

If there is anything more frightening than the threat of global nuclear war, it is the certainty that humans not only stand on the verge of producing new life forms but may soon be able to tinker with them as...

Quotes by Michael Specter

With external help, even the countries ravaged by World War II recovered.

Quotes by Michael Spence

'The war in Iraq - if Osama was a Christian - it's the Christmas present he never would have expected.

Quotes by Michael Scheuer

It's not a choice between war and peace. It's a choice between war and endless war. It's not appeasement. I think it's better even to call it American self-interest.

Quotes by Michael Scheuer

Journalism took me around the world. I worked in London for ten years and reported on the collapse of the Soviet Union, the troubles in Northern Ireland, and the first Gulf War.

Quotes by Michael Robotham

I often joke that I could write 'War and Peace' and make it sound like Geri Halliwell wrote it.

Quotes by Michael Robotham

King Edward VIII was forced to abdicate because he was determined to marry a divorced woman. As a result of that decision, the Queen's father, George VI, was obliged to lead the country through a war that threatened its survival,...

Quotes by Michael Portillo

My own father was a refugee from the Spanish civil war in the 1930s, later going on to become a BBC radio producer after World War II.

Quotes by Michael Portillo

For all those who experienced it, the Spanish Civil War was devastating.

Quotes by Michael Portillo

That's Anil's path. She grows up in Sri Lanka, goes and gets educated abroad, and through fate or chance gets brought back by the Human Rights Commission to investigate war crimes.

Quotes by Michael Ondaatje

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.