60 Great quotes on war

These are a few quotes on war that I feel express great wisdom that we would do well to understand and practice. Pay attention to #42 and #43.

1. “If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” – James Madison
2. “The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.” – James Madison
3. “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. ” – James Madison
4. “Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.” – James Madison
5. “The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.” – James Madison
6. “It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.” – James Madison
7. “The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.” – Thomas Jefferson
8. “Governments constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars, with the end result always being the same. One will always lead to the other.” – Thomas Jefferson
9. “Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.” – Thomas Jefferson
10. “If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.” -Thomas Jefferson
11. “Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.” – Thomas Jefferson
12. “War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.” – Thomas Jefferson
13. “Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.” – Thomas Jefferson
14. “I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.” – Thomas Jefferson
15. “Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.” – George Washington
16. “The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.” – George Washington
17. “Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.” – George Washington
18. “It is our true policy to steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” – George Washington
19. “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force…Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.” – George Washington
20. “My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.” – George Washington
21. “All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones.” – Benjamin Franklin
22. “There never was a good war or a bad peace.” – Benjamin Franklin
23. “Those who give up essential liberties for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin
24. “Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.” – John Adams
25. “Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak…” – John Adams
26. “The defense policy of the United States is based on a simple premise: The United States does not start fights. We will never be an aggressor.” – Ronald Reagan
27. “History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.” – Ronald Reagan
28. “Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” – Ronald Reagan
29. “…no mother would ever willingly sacrifice her sons for territorial gain, for economic advantage, for ideology.” – Ronald Reagan
30. “People do not make wars; governments do.” – Ronald Reagan
31. “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
32. “How far can you go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without?” -Dwight D. Eisenhower
33. “We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security.” -Dwight D. Eisenhower
34. “Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly, I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing.” -Dwight D. Eisenhower
35. “When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
36. “There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs.” -Dwight D. Eisenhower
37. “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
38. “Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative.” -Dwight D. Eisenhower
39. “I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
40. “Statism needs war; a free country does not. Statism survives by looting; a free country survives by producing.” – Ayn Rand
41. “All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.” -Alexis de Tocqueville
42. “If we don’t stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, we’re going to have a serious problem coming down the road.” – George W. Bush, (before becoming president and doing exactly what he promised not to.)
43. “Free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don’t attack each other. Free nations don’t develop weapons of mass destruction.” – George W. Bush (I wish he had governed according to the principles in this quotation.)
44. “War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.” – George Orwell
45. “Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.” – George Orwell
46. “The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.” – George Orwell
47. “What is absurd and monstrous about war is that men who have no personal quarrel should be trained to murder one another in cold blood.” – Aldous Huxley
48. “A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
49. “A man who says that no patriot should attack the war until it is over…is saying no good son should warn his mother of a cliff until she has fallen.” – G.K. Chesterton
50. “War is the greatest plague that can affect humanity; it destroys religion, it destroys states, it destroys families. Any scourge is preferable to it.” – Martin Luther
51. “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.” – The Mahatma Gandhi
52. “What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?” – The Mahatma Gandhi
53. “Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood.” – The Mahatma Gandhi
54. “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” – The Mahatma Gandhi
55. “All forms of violence, especially war, are totally unacceptable as means to settle disputes between and among nations, groups and persons.” -The Dalai Lama
56. “The best defense is no offense.” – Dr. Ivan Eland
57. “We have guided missiles and misguided men.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
58. “The bombs in Vietnam explode at home; they destroy the hopes and possibilities for a decent America.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
59. “The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is my own government.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
60. “‘Emergencies’ have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.” – F.A. Hayek