War and Peace

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

Winston Churchill, (on formal declarations of war), in War and Peace

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Benjamin Franklin, in Law and Politics and War and Peace

The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.

David Friedman, in War and Peace

The graveyards are full of indispensable men.

Charles de Gaulle, in War and Peace

To jaw-jaw is better than to war-war.

Winston Churchill, (on Korean War negotiations), in War and Peace

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

Winston Churchill, in War and Peace

To save your world you asked this man to die;
Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?

W. H. Auden, "Epitaph for an Unknown Soldier", in War and Peace

If we fight a war and win it with H-bombs, what history will remember is not the ideals we were fighting for but the methods we used to accomplish them. These methods will be compared to the warfare of Genghis Khan who ruthlessly killed every last inhabitant of Persia.

Hans A. Bethe, in War and Peace

Alliance: In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted into each others' pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, in Law and Politics and War and Peace

War is not nice.

Barbara Bush, in War and Peace

You can get more of what you want with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word.

Al Capone, in War and Peace

Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.

Sun Tzu, in War and Peace

All warfare is based on deception.

Sun Tzu, The Art Of War, in War and Peace

Remember, to them it is us who are the enemy.

N. F. Simpson, in War and Peace