War is sweet to those who don’t know it.
—Erasmus, 1508
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Quotes
I went [to war] because I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want the glory or the pay; I wanted the right thing done.
—Louisa May Alcott, 1863I detest war. It spoils armies.
—Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, c. 1820There never was a good war or a bad peace.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1773A dead enemy always smells good.
—Aulus Vitellius, 69I have loved war too well.
—Louis XIV, 1715As peace is of all goodness, so war is an emblem, a hieroglyphic, of all misery.
—John Donne, 1622The fear of war is worse than war itself.
—Seneca, c. 50War is the child of pride, and pride the daughter of riches.
—Jonathan Swift, 1697I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. War is hell.
—William Tecumseh Sherman, 1879Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
—Mao Zedong, 1938You furnish the pictures, and I’ll furnish the war.
—William Randolph Hearst, 1898Soldiers in peace are like chimneys in summer.
—William Cecil, Lord Burghley, c. 1555