The Next War

The next war ... may well bury Western civilization forever.

Source:  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Unsourced
Taken From: Antiwar.com Anti-War Quotes

Executioners

It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.

Source: Albert Camus (As quoted in Howard Zinn's The People's History)
Taken From: Antiwar.com Quotes

Whatever Happened to Voluntary Military Service?

The attempt of the United States to make military service attractive by offering high pay, free college education, and other benefits looks suspiciously like bribing the child with candy.

Source: Richard Weaver, Ideas Have Consequences 1948

Realism, War and Justice

There is an unforgettable scene in Lincoln Steffens' Autobiography which tells of a proposal made by Clemenceau at the Versailles Peace Conference.  The astute Frenchman, having listened to much talk that this was a war to end war forever, asked Wilson, Lloyd George, and Orlando whether they were taking the idea seriously.  After obtaining assent from each of the somewhat nonplussed heads of state, Clemenceau proceeded to add up before them the cost.  The British would have to give up their colonial system; the Americans would have to get out of the Philippines, to keep their hands off Mexico; and on and on it went.  Clemenceau's colleagues soon made it plain that this was not at all what they had in mind, whereupon the French realist bluntly told them that they wanted not peace but war.  Such is the position of all who urge justice but really want, and actually choose, other things.

Source: Richard Weaver, Ideas Have Consequences 1948

During Wartime Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Prince of Peace, who hatest wars, in which men slay their own brothers and destroy those things which Thou hast given us to enjoy, forgive us for wars and fightings among us and for the lust of our flesh that begets them.

O Thou who makest wars to cease unto the ends of the earth, bring a speedy end to this reign of destruction and terror. Restore men to sanity so that they may see the insanity of war and avoid it as a sore plague of mankind and an offense to Thy holy majesty.

Source: "During Wartime" Prayer, "My Prayer Book" Concordia Publishing House 1957
Taken From: LRC Blog 8/13/11

American "Wars"

All [of the American's] foreign wars have been fought with foes either too weak to resist them or too heavily engaged elsewhere to make more than a half-hearted attempt. The combats with Mexico and Spain were not wars; they were simply lynchings.

Source: Prejudices: Third Series: "On Being an American", p. 43 HL Mencken (1922)
Taken From: Doug Casey, My Favorite Quotes

Statism and War

Statism needs war; a free country does not. Statism survives by looting; a free country survives by producing.

Source: Ayn Rand, Unsourced
Taken From: Antiwar.com

Homicidal Gamble

A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own.

Source:  H.G. Wells, The Salvaging of Civilization, 1921
Taken From: Wikquote

History and Bloodshed

Distorted history boasts of bellicose glory . . . and seduces the souls of boys to seek mystical bliss in bloodshed and in battles.

Source: Alfred Adler, The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler, Vol4, pg149, "The Other Side", 1919
Taken From: Antiwar.com, Antiwar Quotes

Control

To put it bluntly: in earlier times, it was easier to control one million people than to physically kill one million people; today, it is infinitely easier to kill one million people than to control one million people.

Source: Zbigniew Brzezinski, In a Speech to Chatham House, London 2009
Taken From: Revolution and Repression in America: The Technological Revolution and the Future of Freedom, Part 2

US Imperialism

... U.S. imperialism has been the greatest force for good in the world during the past century.

Source: Max Boot, American Imperialism? No Need to Run Away from Label - 5/6/2003
Taken From: Wikipedia 

Note:  The blog author completely disagrees with Max Boot on this point.

War

When, after many battles past,
Both, tired with blows, make peace at last,
What is it, after all, the people get?
Why! Taxes, widows, wooden legs and debt.

Source: Samuel B. Pettengill or 1829, Moore's Almanac, under Monthly Observations
Taken From: LRC Blog, Lew Rockwell, July 2nd 2011

Imperialistic Arrogance

I’ve spent my entire adult life with the United States as a superpower, and one that had no compunction about spending what it took to sustain that position, ... It didn’t have to look over its shoulder because our economy was so strong. This is a different time.  To tell you the truth, that’s one of the many reasons it’s time for me to retire, because frankly I can’t imagine being part of a nation, part of a government … that’s being forced to dramatically scale back our engagement with the rest of the world.

 Source:  Robert Gates (US Secretary of Defense 2006-2011), in an Interview with Newsweek, 6/19/2011
 Taken From:  Sovereign Man Blog, US Defense Secretary to take his ball and go home, 6/22/2011

On the Conquest of the US by Spain

this scheme of a republic which our fathers formed was a glorious dream which demands more than a word of respect and affection before it passes away.

Source:  William Graham Sumner (Yale professor of Sociology)
Taken From:  The Conquest of the US by Spain by Ralph Raico

Religion and the State

Instead of religious beliefs being the cause of war, it is more likely that those who want war co-opt religion and falsely claim the enemy is attacking their religious values.

Source:  Ron Paul, Liberty Defined (pg 243) section on Religion and Liberty, 2011

Making War Acceptable

[Goering] Why, of course, the people don't want war, why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.

[Gilbert] There is one difference, in a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.

[Goering] Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.

Source:  Hermann Goering on 18 April 1946 as recorded by Gustave Gilbert
Taken From: Ron Paul, Liberty Defined (pg 213) section on Noble Lie, 2011

Arms Merchants

The military culture has made us the largest arms merchant of the world, and of all history.

Source:  Ron Paul, Liberty Defined (pg 49) section on Keynesianism, 2011

Truth

When war is declared, truth is the first casualty.

Source: Arthur Ponsonby, Falsehood in Wartime: Propaganda Lies of the First World War (1928)
Taken From: Antiwar.com & Wikiquote

On Civil Disobedience

Historically, the most terrible things—war, genocide, and slavery—have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience.

Source:  Howard Zinn, 1990, Declarations Of Independence Cross-Examining American Ideology, pg 104
Taken From: AntiWar.com Quotes

World of Giants and Infants

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.

Source:  General Omar N. Bradley, Armistice Day Speech, Nov 11th, 1948
Taken From:  AntiWar.com Quotes