The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. Douglas MacArthur
The war… was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forbearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides. Robert E. Lee
People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election. Otto von Bismarck
But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Jesus
There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. Smedley Butler
The scenes on this field would have cured anybody of war. William Tecumseh Sherman
I have known war as few men now living know it. It’s very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes. But once war is forced upon us, there is no other alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end. Douglas MacArthur
It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. Martin Luther King, Jr.
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Jesus
Strike against war, for without you no battles can be fought! Helen Keller
One cannot wage war under present conditions without the support of public opinion, which is tremendously molded by the press and other forms of propaganda. Douglas MacArthur
It is good that war is so horrible, or we might grow to like it. Robert E. Lee
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell. William Tecumseh Sherman
I served in all commissioned ranks from a second Lieutenant to a Major General. And during that time, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. Smedley Butler
There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell. William Tecumseh Sherman
To be a patriot, one had to say, and keep on saying, ” Our country, right or wrong,” and urge on the little war. Have you not perceived that that phrase is an insult to the nation. Mark Twain
In our Country… one class of men makes war and leaves another to fight it out. William Tecumseh Sherman
Before I had chance in another war, the desire to kill people to whom I had not been introduced had passed away. Mark Twain
War is at its best barbarism. William Tecumseh Sherman
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Even today we raise our hand against our brother… We have perfected our weapons, our conscience has fallen asleep, and we have sharpened our ideas to justify ourselves as if it were normal we continue to sow destruction, pain, death. Violence and war lead only to death. Pope Francis
War is just a racket… I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. Smedley Butler
Organize, agitate, educate, must be our war cry. Susan B. Anthony
My father was very disappointed by war and fighting. And he thought language could help us out of cycles of revenge and animosity. And so, as a journalist, he always found himself asking lots of questions and trying to gather information. He was always very clear to underscore the fact that Jewish people and Arab people were brother and sister. Naomi Shihab Nye
Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind. John F. Kennedy
Our swollen budgets constantly have been misrepresented to the public. Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear, kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor, with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant funds demanded. Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real. Douglas MacArthur
War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed. William McKinley
My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth. George Washington
We are not hated because we practice democracy, value freedom, or uphold human rights. We are hated because our government denies these things to people in Third World countries whose resources are coveted by our multinational corporations. That hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the form of terrorism…Instead of sending our sons and daughters around the world to kill Arabs so we can have the oil under their sand, we should send them to rebuild their infrastructure, supply clean water, and feed starving children…In short, we should do good instead of evil. Who would try to stop us? That is the truth the American people need to hear. Robert Bowman (Lt. Col. USAF during Vietnam war and ultimately, a Catholic Bishop)
War is a wanton waste of projectiles. Mark Twain
It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear. Douglas MacArthur
War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography. Ambrose Bierce
War is a racket. It always has been… A few profit – and the many pay. But there is a way to stop it. You can’t end it by disarmament conferences. You can’t eliminate it by peace parleys at Geneva. Well-meaning but impractical groups can’t wipe it out by resolutions. It can be smashed effectively only by taking the profit out of war. Smedley Butler
Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war. Otto von Bismarck
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
My greatest disappointment is that I believe that those of us who went through the war and tried to write about it, about their experience, became messengers. We have given the message, and nothing changed. Elie Wiesel
I grew up in a time when people believed in duty, honor and country. My grandfathers were both officers. My father was a General in the Air Force. My brother and I were both in the Army. I’ve always felt a kinship with soldiers; I think it’s possible to support the warrior and be against the war. Kris Kristofferson
Life is now a war zone, and as such, the number of people considered disposable has grown exponentially, and this includes low income whites, poor minorities, immigrants, the unemployed, the homeless, and a range of people who are viewed as a liability to capital and its endless predatory quest for power and profits. Henry Giroux
In nuclear war all men are cremated equal. Dexter Gordon
War is not the answer, because only love can conquer hate. Marvin Gaye
We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear – kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor – with the cry of grave national emergency. Douglas MacArthur
Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out…and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel. ..And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for “the universal brotherhood of man”–with his mouth. Mark Twain
Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. Baruch Spinoza
A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy. Aldous Huxley
In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful. Leo Tolstoy
The grim fact is that we prepare for war like precocious giants, and for peace like retarded pygmies. Lester B. Pearson
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Jesus
As a soldier, I survived World War I when most of my comrades did not. Lester B. Pearson
Blessed are the peacemakers. Jesus
It has too often been too easy for rulers and governments to incite man to war. Lester B. Pearson
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
Every state has not only the right but the duty to make adequate provision for its own defense in the way it thinks best, providing it does not do so at the expense of any other state. Lester B. Pearson
Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means. Ronald Reagan
As to the first, I do not know that I have done very much myself to promote fraternity between nations but I do know that there can be no more important purpose for any man’s activity or interests. Lester B. Pearson
Peace is its own reward. Mahatma Gandhi
And I have lived since – as you have – in a period of cold war, during which we have ensured by our achievements in the science and technology of destruction that a third act in this tragedy of war will result in the peace of extinction. Lester B. Pearson
Be convinced that to be happy means to be free and that to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war. Thucydides
War contributes greatly to global warming, which shouldn’t surprise us. All those bombs going off, all those rockets, all those planes and helicopters. All that fuel of various kinds being used. It pollutes the air and water of this very fragile and interconnected planet. Alice Walker
War is hell. Hollywood fantasizes about it and makes it look good… war sucks. Chris Kyle
Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it. Douglas MacArthur
Peace begins with a smile. Mother Teresa
I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within. Douglas MacArthur
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace. Jimi Hendrix
Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come. Henri Nouwen
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. Mahatma Gandhi
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. Mother Teresa
Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace. Dalai Lama
Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace. Buddha
Revenge, lust, ambition, pride, and self-will are too often exalted as the gods of man’s idolatry; while holiness, peace, contentment, and humility are viewed as unworthy of a serious thought. Charles Spurgeon
You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. Indira Gandhi
Islam teaches tolerance, not hatred; universal brotherhood, not enmity; peace, and not violence. Pervez Musharraf
If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that’s his problem. Love and peace are eternal. John Lennon
Every human longs for peace and love. Hiawatha
The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It’s the age-old struggle: the roar of the crowd on the one side, and the voice of your conscience on the other. Douglas MacArthur
Statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception. Mark Twain
Let us have peace. Ulysses S. Grant
Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Let us not deceive ourselves; we must elect world peace or world destruction. Bernard Baruch
In a multi-racial society, trust, understanding and tolerance are the cornerstones of peace and order. Kamisese Mara
Could I have but a line a century hence crediting a contribution to the advance of peace, I would yield every honor which has been accorded by war. Douglas MacArthur
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Jesus
All we are saying is give peace a chance. John Lennon