"I abhor unjust war. I abhor injustice and bullying by the strong at the expense of the weak, whether among nations or individuals. I abhor violence and bloodshed. I believe that war should never be resorted to when, or so long as, it is honorably possible to avoid it. I respect all men and women who from high motives and with sanity and self-respect do all they can to avert war. I advocate preparation for war in order to avert war; and I should never advocate war unless it were the only alternative to dishonor."
War quotes
War
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War quotes (page 134 of 853)
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"Not our Logical, Mensurative faculty, but our Imaginative one is King over us; I might say, Priest and Prophet to lead us heavenward; or Magician and Wizard to lead us hellward."
"Have not I myself known five hundred living soldiers sabred into crows' meat for a piece of glazed cotton, which they call their flag; which had you sold it at any market-cross, would not have brought above three groschen?"
"I can scarcely contemplate a more incalculable evil than the breaking of the Union into two or more parts."
"We did not raise armies for glory or for conquest."
"Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government."
"Having seen the people of all other nations bowed down to the earth under the wars and prodigalities of their rulers, I have cherished their opposites, peace, economy, and riddance of public debt, believing that these were the high road to public as well as private prosperity and happiness."
"I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind."
"If ever we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, we will never lay it down till that tribe is exterminated, or driven beyond the Mississippi... in war, they will kill some of us; we shall destroy them all."
"This I hope will be the age of experiments in government, and that their basis will be founded in principles of honesty, not of mere force."
"We prefer war in all cases to tribute under any form and to any people whatever."
"Establish the eternal truth that acquiescence under insult is not the way to escape war."
"My views and feelings (are) in favor of the abolition of war-and I hope it is practicable, by improving the mind and morals of society, to lessen the disposition to war; but of its abolition I despair."
"The lamp of war is kindled here, not to be extinguished but by torrents of blood."
"It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt."
"The evils of war are great in their endurance, and have a long reckoning for ages to come."
"The power of making war often prevents it, and in our case would give efficacy to our desire of peace."
"We are firmly convinced, and we act on that conviction, that with nations as with individuals our interests soundly calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties, and history bears witness to the fact that a just nation is trusted on its word when recourse is had to armaments and wars to bridle others."
"I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another."
"Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remain uninterrupted."