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Quotes about war and peace

540 quotes from 231 people

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You snug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.
Siegfried Sassoon1886–1967Suicide in the Trenches (1918)In context
- Youth
It is doubly chimerical to build peace on economic foundations which, in turn, rest on the systematic cultivation of greed and envy, the very forces which drive men into conflict.
ESE. F. Schumacher1911–1977Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered (1973), p. 36.
- Economics
National loyalty involves a love of home and a preparedness to defend it; nationalism is a belligerent ideology, which uses national symbols in order to conscript the people to war.
Roger Scruton1944–2020England and the Need for Nations (2006)
- Patriotism
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes back with rustling shade
And apple-blossoms fill the air⁠—
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.
Alan Seeger1888–1916I Have a Rendezvous with Death (1916)In context
- Life & Death
But I’ve a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous.
Alan Seeger1888–1916I Have a Rendezvous with Death (1916)In context
- Life & Death
If survival calls for the bearing of arms, bear them you must. But the most important part of the challenge is for you to find another means that does not come with the killing of your fellow man.
Rod Serling1924–1975Speech at Binghamton Community High School (1968).
The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs, and explosions, and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy; and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is, that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone.
Rod Serling1924–1975Closing narration of The Twilight Zone, “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” (4 March 1960)
- Fear
Cry ‘Havoc!,’ and let slip the dogs of war.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Julius Caesar (1599), Act III, scene i.In context
Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Othello (c. 1604), Act I, Scene II, spoken by OthelloIn context
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood
William Shakespeare1564–1616Henry V (1599), Act III, Scene I, spoken by King HenryIn context
- Courage
The game’s afoot!
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry, “God for Harry! England and Saint George!”
William Shakespeare1564–1616Henry V (1599), Act III, Scene I, spoken by King HenryIn context
- Patriotism
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Henry V (1599), Act IV, Scene III, spoken by King HenryIn context
- Courage
- Friendship
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Henry V (1599), Act IV, Scene III, spoken by King HenryIn context
- Honor
O, withered is the garland of the war,
The soldier’s pole is fallen; young boys and girls
Are level now with men. The odds is gone,
And there is nothing left remarkable
Beneath the visiting moon.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Antony and Cleopatra (c. 1606), Act IV, Scene XV, spoken by CleopatraIn context
- Life & Death
You’ll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950O’Flaherty V.C. (1919)
- Patriotism