War Quotes

A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails and then asks you not to kill him.

Some people did not like this ceremonious style. But after all when you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.

This is no war of chieftains or of princes, of dynasties or national ambition; it is a war of peoples and of causes... This is a War of the Unknown Warriors; but let all strive without failing in faith or in duty; and the dark curse of Hitler will be lifted from our age.

You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime.

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

War never pays its dividends in cash on the money it costs.

In a war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.

Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace, and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.

I am never going to have anything more to do with politics or politicians. When this war is over, I shall confine myself entirely to writing and painting.

If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival.

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

You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war.

When you feel you cannot continue in your position for another minute, and all that is in human power has been done, that is the moment when the enemy is most exhausted, and when one step forward will give you the fruits of the struggle you have borne.

Building slow destroyers ! One might as well breed slow race horses.

I do not hold that we should rearm in order to fight. I hold that we should rearm in order to parley.

In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.

This truth may be unfashionable, unpalatable, no doubt unpopular, but, if it is the truth, the story of mankind shows that war was universal and unceasing for millions of years before armaments were invented or armies organized. Indeed, the lucid intervals of peace and order only occurred in human history after armaments in the hands of strong governments have come into being, and civilization in every age has been nursed only in cradles guarded by superior weapons and superior discipline.

Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer. You have only to persevere to save yourselves, and to save all those who rely upon you. You have only to go right on, and at the end of the road, be it short or long, victory and honor will be found.

Wars are not won by evacuations.

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.