There never was a good war or a bad peace.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1773
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Quotes
War is the child of pride, and pride the daughter of riches.
—Jonathan Swift, 1697Don’t talk to me about naval tradition. It’s nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash.
—Winston Churchill, 1939A dead enemy always smells good.
—Aulus Vitellius, 69War to the castles; peace to the cottages.
—Nicolas Chamfort, 1790Soldiers in peace are like chimneys in summer.
—William Cecil, Lord Burghley, c. 1555As 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. 50You furnish the pictures, and I’ll furnish the war.
—William Randolph Hearst, 1898I have loved war too well.
—Louis XIV, 1715I 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, 1863Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.
—Carl Sandburg, 1936War is sweet to those who don’t know it.
—Erasmus, 1508