Famously Said Random quote

Quotes about war and peace

540 quotes from 231 people

Most readBy personPage 22 of 36

When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation.
Alexander Hamilton1757–1804The Federalist Papers (1787–1788), No. 16: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union
The only certainty in war is human suffering, uncertain costs, unintended consequences.
Barack Obamaborn 1961Remarks by the President on the Iran Nuclear Deal at American University in Washington, D.C. (August 05, 2015)
Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of.
And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.
Viktor Frankl1905–1997Postscript 1984: The Case for a Tragic Optimism, based on a lecture at the Third World Congress of Logotherapy, Regensburg University (19 June 1983)
- Good & Evil
Pacifists ought to enter more deeply into the aesthetical and ethical point of view of their opponents.
William James1842–1910The Moral Equivalent of War (1906)
The cause of the great War of the Rebellion against the United States will have to be attributed to slavery.
Ulysses S. Grant1822–1885Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885), Conclusion
- Slavery
Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy.
Harry S. Truman1884–1972Announcing the Bombing of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945)
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.
James Madison1751–1836“Political Observations” (1795-04-20)
- Liberty
I will now confess my own utopia. I devoutly believe in the reign of peace and in the gradual advent of some sort of socialistic equilibrium.
William James1842–1910The Moral Equivalent of War (1906)
- Politics
If inciting people to do that is terrorism, and if killing those who kill our sons is terrorism, then let history be witness that we are terrorists.
Osama bin Laden1957–2011On the September 11, 2001 attacks, in CNN broadcast of an interview that Al-Jazeera conducted in October 2001 (31 January 2002).
If we are serious about peace, then we must work for it as ardently, seriously, continuously, carefully, and bravely as we have ever prepared for war.
Wendell Berry1934–2026Citizenship Papers (2003), “A Citizen’s Response”
Peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting.
Barack Obamaborn 1961Nobel Prize acceptance speech (December 2009)
- Justice
It is evil things that we will be fighting against⁠—brute force, bad faith, injustice, oppression and persecution⁠—and against them I am certain that the right will prevail.
Neville Chamberlain1869–1940Broadcast from the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street (3 September 1939)
- Good & Evil
Cannot swords be turned to plowshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004Address to United Nations General Assembly (21 September 1987)
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’
Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech in the House of Commons, June 18, 1940 “War Situation”.
- Courage
Ashoka (264 to 227 B.C.), one of the great monarchs of history, whose dominions extended from Afghanistan to Madras… is the only military monarch on record who abandoned warfare after victory.
H. G. Wells1866–1946The Outline of History (1920), chapter no. 25.4 (Buddhism and Ashoka) page no 365-366
- History