The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Category War

Featured Quote in War

In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Goodwill.
Winston Churchill The Second World War · 1948-1953

Subcategories

Strategy (41) Peace (6) Ancient warfare (0) Medieval warfare (0) Early modern warfare (0) Modern warfare (7) Soldiers (1) Aftermath (0)

War Quotes

“In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Goodwill.”

Winston Churchill · The Second World War, 1948-1953 · Primary source

“The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one. One could say that it has affected us quantitatively, not qualitatively.”

Albert Einstein · Ideas and Opinions , 1954 · Primary source

“History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.”

Ronald Reagan · Address to the Nation and Other Countries on United States-Soviet Relations, 1984 · Primary source

“You do your worst—and we will do our best.”

Winston Churchill · You do your worst—and we will do our best, 1941 · Primary source

“The greatest danger of all would be to do nothing.”

John F. Kennedy · Address During The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 · Primary source

“We shall never surrender.”

Winston Churchill · We shall fight on the beaches, 1940 · Primary source

“Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.”

Winston Churchill · The Story of the Malakand Field Force, 1898 · Primary source

“I am more afraid of our own blunders than of the enemy’s devices.”

Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War, 431 BC · Primary source

“The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon [Sparta], made war inevitable.”

Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War, 431 BC · Primary source

“Confident and unafraid, we labor on—not toward a strategy of annihilation but toward a strategy of peace.”

John F. Kennedy · Commencement address at American University, 1963 · Primary source

“Perhaps wars weren’t won any more. Maybe they went on forever. Maybe it was another Hundred Years’ War.”

Ernest Hemingway · A Farewell to Arms, 1929 · Primary source

“A war postponed may be a war averted.”

Winston Churchill · The World Crisis, 1923-1931 · Primary source

“There is no merit in putting off a war for a year if, when it comes, it is a far worse war or one much harder to win.”

Winston Churchill · The Second World War, 1948-1953 · Primary source

“The first rule of war is to concentrate superior strength for decisive action and to avoid division of force or engaging in detail.”

Winston Churchill · The World Crisis, 1923-1931 · Primary source

“We may now picture this great Fleet, with its flotillas and cruisers, steaming slowly out of Portland Harbour, squadron by squadron, scores of gigantic castles of steel wending their way across the misty, shining sea, like giants bowed in anxious thought. We may picture them again as darkness fell, eighteen miles of warships running at high speed and in absolute blackness through the Narrow Straits, bearing with them into the broad waters of the North the safeguard of considerable affairs […] The king’s ships were at sea.”

Winston Churchill · The World Crisis, 1923-1931 · Primary source

“There is no merit in putting off a war for a year if, when it comes, it is a far worse war or one much harder to win.”

Winston Churchill · The Second World War, 1948-1953 · Primary source

“We are both caught up in a vicious and dangerous cycle in which suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counterweapons.”

John F. Kennedy · Commencement address at American University, 1963 · Primary source

“War is a matter not so much of arms as of money.”

Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War, 431 BC · Primary source

“But I must drop one word of caution; for, next to cowardice and treachery, overconfidence, leading to neglect or slothfulness, is the worst of martial crimes.”

Winston Churchill · Give us the tools, 1941 · Primary source

“This is a time for action—not for war, but for mobilization of every bit of peace machinery.”

Eleanor Roosevelt · My Day, 1935-1962 · Primary source

“Clausewitz’s first principle was to have a secure base. From there one proceeds to freedom of action.”

Ian Fleming · Dr. No, 1958 · Primary source

“Total war makes no sense in an age when great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the Second World War.”

John F. Kennedy · Commencement address at American University, 1963 · Primary source

“They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in modern war there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.”

Ernest Hemingway · Notes on the Next War, 1935 · Primary source

“Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today. It’s been that way all this year. It’s been that way so many times. All of this war is that way.”

Ernest Hemingway · For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940 · Primary source

“For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.”

John F. Kennedy · Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 · Primary source

“The main military purpose and scheme of the Dictators is to produce quick results, to avoid a prolonged war. A prolonged war never suits dictators.”

Winston Churchill · The Second World War, 1948-1953 · Primary source

“It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.”

John F. Kennedy · Address During The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 · Primary source

“Our first line of defence is the enemy’s port.”

Winston Churchill · The World Crisis, 1923-1931 · Primary source

“No catalogue of horrors ever kept men from war. Before the war you always think that it’s not you that dies. But you will die, brother, if you go to it long enough.”

Ernest Hemingway · Notes on the Next War, 1935 · Primary source

“It was a bitter moment. Defeat is one thing; disgrace is another.”

Winston Churchill · The Second World War, 1948-1953 · Primary source

“What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children—not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women—not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.”

John F. Kennedy · Commencement address at American University, 1963 · Primary source

“We will not prematurely or unnecessarily risk the costs of worldwide nuclear war in which even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth—but neither will we shrink from that risk at any time it must be faced.”

John F. Kennedy · Address During The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 · Primary source

“The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough—more than enough—of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success.”

John F. Kennedy · Commencement address at American University, 1963 · Primary source

“Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.”

Winston Churchill · Give us the tools, 1941 · Primary source

“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Abraham Lincoln · The Gettysburg Address, 1863 · Primary source

“When the odds are hopeless, when all seems to be lost, then is the time to be calm, to make a show of authority—at least of indifference.”

Ian Fleming · On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, 1963 · Primary source

“Never give in—never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”

Winston Churchill · Never give in, never, 1941 · Primary source

“The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.”

Ernest Hemingway · For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940 · Primary source

“The idea that Britain loses every battle except the last has proved correct so many times in the past that the average Englishman is unwilling to make great personal sacrifices until the danger is overwhelmingly apparent.”

John F. Kennedy · Why England Slept, 1940 · Primary source

“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”

Ernest Hemingway · A Farewell to Arms, 1929 · Primary source

“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”

Abraham Lincoln · The Gettysburg Address, 1863 · Primary source

“‘This case isn’t ripe yet. Until it is, our policy with Mr Big is “live and let live’.
Bond looked quizzically at Captain Dexter.
‘In my job,’ he said, ‘when I come up against a man like this one, I have another motto. It’s 'live and let die'.’”

Ian Fleming · Live and Let Die, 1954 · Primary source

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action.”

Ian Fleming · Goldfinger, 1959 · Primary source

“When we reflect upon the brutal vices of these salt-water bandits, pirates as shameful as any whom the sea has borne, or recoil from their villainous destruction and cruel deeds, we must also remember the discipline, the fortitude, the comradeship and martial virtues which made them at this period beyond all challenge the most formidable and daring race in the world.”

Winston Churchill · A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, 1956-1958 · Primary source

“And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.”

Abraham Lincoln · Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 · Primary source

“Possibly that feature of aviation which may appeal most to thoughtful women is its potentiality for peace. The term is not merely an airy phrase. Isolation breeds distrust and differences of outlook. Anything which tends to annihilate distance destroys isolation, and brings the world and its peoples closer together. I think aviation has a chance to increase intimacy, understanding, and far-flung friendships thus.”

Amelia Earhart · 20 Hrs. 40 Min., 1928 · Primary source

“The statesmen miscalculated again. Their fellow-countrymen had the means to carry out their policy but not the will; their pawns had the will without the means.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · The Western Question in Greece and Turkey, 1922 · Primary source

“The courage, the unconquerable grit and stamina of our people, showed itself from the very outset. Without that all would have failed. Upon that rock, all stood unshakable.”

Winston Churchill · You do your worst—and we will do our best, 1941 · Primary source

“Dying is only bad when it takes a long time and hurts so much that it humiliates you.”

Ernest Hemingway · For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940 · Primary source

“There is no little enemy.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“They rushed into it with their eyes open because they could not resist the bait.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · The Western Question in Greece and Turkey, 1922 · Primary source

“Of the twenty or so civilizations known to modern Western historians, all except our own appear to be dead or moribund, and, when we diagnose each case, in extremis or post mortem, we invariably find that the cause of death has been either War or Class or some, combination of the two.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · Civilization on Trial, 1948 · Primary source

“Where should we go? I don’t care. Anywhere you want. Anywhere we don’t know people.”

Ernest Hemingway · A Farewell to Arms, 1929 · Primary source

“The questioners had that beautiful detachment and devotion to stern justice of men dealing in death without being in any danger of it.”

Ernest Hemingway · A Farewell to Arms, 1929 · Primary source

“You had to trust the people you worked with completely or not at all, and you had to make decisions about the trusting.”

Ernest Hemingway · For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940 · Primary source

“Thus ended the great American Civil War, which must upon the whole be considered the noblest and least avoidable of all the great mass-conflicts of which till then there was record.”

Winston Churchill · A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, 1956-1958 · Primary source

“When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.”

Winston Churchill · The Second World War, 1948-1953 · Primary source

“The 1930’s taught us a clear lesson: aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged ultimately leads to war.”

John F. Kennedy · Address During The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 · Primary source

“Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need—not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, ‘rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation’—a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.”

John F. Kennedy · Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 · Primary source

“Many things were adopted in the war which we were told were technically impossible, but patience, perseverance, and, above all, the spur of necessity under war conditions, made men’s brains act with greater vigour, and science responded to the demands.”

Winston Churchill · The Second World War, 1948-1953 · Primary source

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”

Abraham Lincoln · The Gettysburg Address, 1863 · Primary source

“And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.”

Abraham Lincoln · Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 · Primary source

“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it.”

John F. Kennedy · Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 · Primary source

“And wherever men are fighting against barbarism, tyranny, and massacre, for freedom, law, and honour, let them remember that the fame of their deeds, even though they themselves be exterminated, may perhaps be celebrated as long as the world rolls round. Let us then declare that King Arthur and his noble knights, guarding the Sacred Flame of Christianity and the theme of a world order, sustained by valour, physical strength, and good horses and armour, slaughtered innumerable hosts of foul barbarians and set decent folk an example for all time.”

Winston Churchill · A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, 1956-1958 · Primary source

“United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do—for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.”

John F. Kennedy · Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 · Primary source

“You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves.”

Winston Churchill · The Second World War, 1948-1953 · Primary source

“War is no longer made by simply analysed economic forces if it ever was. War is made or planned now by individual men, demagogues and dictators who play on the patriotism of their people to mislead them into a belief in the great fallacy of war when all their vaunted reforms have failed to satisfy the people they misrule.”

Ernest Hemingway · Notes on the Next War, 1935 · Primary source

“I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands and wrote my will across the sky in stars.”

T. E. Lawrence · Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1926 · Primary source

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

John F. Kennedy · Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 · Primary source

“The belief that security can be obtained by throwing a small State to the wolves is a fatal delusion.”

Winston Churchill · The Second World War, 1948-1953 · Primary source

“More often geographical expansion is a concomitant of real decline and coincides with a ‘time of troubles’ or a universal state—both of them stages of decline and disintegration. The reason is not far to seek. Times of trouble produce militarism, which is a perversion of the human spirit into channels of mutual destruction, and the most successful militarist becomes, as a rule, the founder of a universal state. Geographical expansion is a by-product of this militarism, in interludes when the mighty men of valour turn aside from their assaults upon their rivals within their own society to deliver assaults upon neighbouring societies.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · A Study of History, 1934-1961 · Primary source

Explore the category

War

8 subcategories · 8 authors · 17 works · 140 themes · 261 tags
Authors
Albert Einstein Theoretical physicistWinston Churchill British prime ministerJohn F. Kennedy President of the United States
Works
Ideas and Opinions Albert Einstein · 1954A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway · 1929For Whom the Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway · 1940
Themes
The cost of delaying confrontationTiming in strategic decisionsCharacter across changing fortunes
Tags
Cold WarDeterrenceInternational cooperationResistance
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