War quotes

War

17K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

17K quotes

Explore further

Browse quotes that often appear alongside war — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.

Peace 3.4K quotes Men 68.6K quotes Country 20.3K quotes People 100.4K quotes Military 4.2K quotes Thinking 95.1K quotes

Quote collection

War quotes (page 164 of 853)

Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.

Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
War

"By accident of geography, the world's major oil resources are in Shi'ite-dominated areas. Iran's oil is concentrated right near the gulf, which happens to be an Arab area, not Persian. Khuzestan is Arab, has been loyal to Iran, fought with Iran not Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. This is a potential source of dissension. I would be amazed if there isn't an attempt going on to stir up secessionist elements in Khuzestan."

War Oil Iran
Read quote 5 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
War

"It has been known for some time that a major nuclear war might lead to nuclear winter that would destroy the attacker as well as the target. And threats are now mounting, particularly at the Russian border, confirming the prediction of George Kennan and other prominent figures that NATO expansion, particularly the way it was undertaken, would prove to be a "tragic mistake," a "policy error of historic proportions.""

War Mistake Winter
Read quote 5 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
War

"Actually, the phrase "national security" is barely used until the 1930s. And there's a reason. By then, the United States was beginning to become global. Before that the United States had been mostly a regional power - Britain was the biggest global power. After the Second World War, national security is everywhere, because we basically owned the world, so our security is threatened everywhere. Not just on our borders, but everywhere - so you have to have a thousand military bases around the world for "defense.""

War Military Borders
Read quote 5 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
War

"When I wrote about the Spanish Civil War many years later, I used documents that I picked up when I was a child, as a lot hadn't been published (a lot more resources are available now)."

Years Children War
Read quote 5 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
War

"For a while, after the Second World War, when there was strong support for labor, this was done subtly."

War Strong Support
Read quote 5 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
War

"To go back to a moment of Western civilization remote enough in time so that we should be able to look at it dispassionately, ask what happened during World War I. What was the typical behavior of respected intellectuals in Germany, England, the United States? What happened to those who publicly questioned the nobility of the war effort, on both sides? I do not think the answers are untypical."

Thinking War Civilization
Read quote 5 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
War

"There's a War Crimes Act in the United States passed by a Republican Congress in 1996, which says that grave breaches of the Geneva Convention are subject to the death penalty. And that doesn't mean the soldier that committed them - that means the commanders."

Mean War Soldier
Read quote 5 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
War

"Take Germany and Japan, both defeated in the Second World War. Germany has acknowledged its monstrous crimes to a certain extent, has paid reparations and so on. Japan, in contrast, apologizes for nothing and has paid no reparations, with one exception: It pays reparations to the United States, but not to Asia."

War Japan Asia
Read quote 5 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
War

"Take the Iraq War,it's the second worst crime after the Second World War. It's the first time in history, in the history of imperialism, there were huge demonstrations, before the war was officially launched."

World War Iraq
Read quote 5 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
War

"We have to remember that literally within months after Castro's taking office the planes from Florida were beginning to bomb Cuba. Within a year, the Eisenhower administration secretly, but formally, decided to overthrow the government. Then came the Bay of Pigs invasion. The Kennedy administration was furious about the failure of the invasion and immediately launched a major terrorist war and economic war that got harsher through the years. Under these conditions it is kind of amazing that Cuba survived."

War Government Florida
Read quote 5 likes
Henry David Thoreau Writer, Philosopher
War

"A common and natural result of an undue respect for law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys, and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart."

Heart War Order
Read quote 5 likes
James Parton Biographer, Historian
War

"On the eve of the Civil War, James Parton could write that 'the political history of the United States, for the last thirty years, dates from the moment when the soft hand of Mr. Van Buren touched Mrs. Eaton's knocker.'"

Writing War Hands
Read quote 5 likes
Henry Miller Novelist, Essayist
War

"We kill because we are afraid of our own shadow, afraid that if we used a little common sense we'd have to admit that our glorious principles were wrong."

War Shadow Common Sense
Read quote 5 likes
Henry Miller Novelist, Essayist
War

"For some reason or other man looks for the miracle, and to accomplish it he will wade through blood. He will debauch himself with ideas, he will reduce himself to a shadow if for only one second of his life he can close his eyes to the hideousness of reality. Everything is endured-disgrace, humiliation, poverty, war, crime, ennui-in the belief that overnight something will occur, a miracle, which will render life tolerable."

War Eye Fear
Read quote 5 likes
James Rollins Author, Veterinarian
War

"A war is coming, a battle that will stretch from the prehistoric forests of the ancient past to the cutting-edge research labs of today, all to reveal a true mystery buried deep within our DNA, a mystery that will leave readers changed forever ."

War Past Cutting
Read quote 5 likes
Khaled Hosseini Author, Physician
War

"[Barack Obama] is sending more troops [to Afghanistan], but they have also realized that we are not going to win that war through guns and tanks. We have to engage the neighbors, and it is good that there is a non-military strategy in addition to a military strategy. It is, at least, encouraging. Whether it will work or not, the jury is still put."

War Military Gun
Read quote 5 likes