50 Best War Quotes and Sayings

War is horrendous. The horrors of war cannot be fully captured with mere words. The aftermath extends for centuries and beyond. Humanity still can shine through even the most horrific of war stories.

A raging battle almost always will ensue when conflicting powers feel compelled to defend their dominion and sovereignty. We tend to protect what we deem as crucial even if the resolve calls for combat and spilling blood and guts.

What is war? War is “a contention by force,” wrote Marcus Tullius Cicero, a Roman statesman. French philosopher Denis Diderot described war as “a convulsive and violent disease of the body politic.” Webster’s Dictionary defines war as a state of open and declared, hostile armed conflict between states or nations, or a period of such conflict.(1)

But perhaps the most viable notions about war are those from notable military leaders who have seen and experienced firsthand what war truly is all about.

American Revolutionary War captain Nathan Hale; Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War II, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower; Italian general, Giuseppe Garibaldi, and U.S. Gen. George S. Patton Jr. are just some of the many renowned leaders who have had a lot to say about war. (2) Their strong quotes on war continue to live on and have been preserved in the hearts and souls of so many heroes who valiantly fought in wars.

Not all wars are physical. You may be in conflict between two opposing ideals that are testing your principles and integrity. You may be keeping those opinions to yourself. Read these quotes about war and you will likely find some that resonate with you.

Best Quotes about War

We’ve explained war is not only about armed conflicts. The war between two people, love, careers, family, and in most parts of our daily lives. Here are a mix of quotes about war of all kinds:

• Only the dead have seen the end of war.
• Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.
• All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal.
• Men make war to get attention. All killing is an expression of self-hate.
• It doesn’t make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who’s dead.
• It’s not the armies that are evil, it’s wars and people who start them.
• Wars don’t end anything.
• War is a game that can be played with a smile on a face, but there won’t be any laughter in a heart.
• War means violence that begets new violence.

Thought-Provoking Quotes on War

Thought-provoking quotes on war are among those things which can change attitudes and lead to intelligent conversations about serious conflicts and issues.

• Our Generation has had no Great war, no Great Depression. Our war is spiritual. Our depression is our lives.
• War is what happens when language fails.
• I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
• How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism?
• It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.
• We have to study war and politics now so that our children could have freedom to study things like philosophy and know nothing about war.
• If there were no wars, how could we know the value of peace?
• There’s nothing worth to die for in modern wars. Soldiers die for politicians and their desire to get richer.
• Refusing to fight for what someone thinks is right isn’t an act of cowardice. It’s the realization that wars are pointless.
• It doesn’t matter what war we are talking about, you won’t find winners there. Both sides lose.

Impressive Images with Quotes about War

Images with quotes about war like these can be shared with your friends:

Most Famous Quotes about War

Here are some famous quotes about war that are vivid and can be used to promote some degree of understanding:

• War is hell. You can’t photograph a flying bullet, but you can capture genuine fear.
• Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy.
• When the rich wage war it’s the poor who die.
• The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.
• I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.
• The best way to solve problems and to fight against war is through dialogue.
• If you are looking for the ways to preserve peace, you have to be prepared to war.
• The young people to refuse to do military service are the pioneers of the world that knows no wars.
• There's no such thing as a righteous war. No one has the right to take the other person's life.
• Whoever wants to win a war has to stop it right away. This is the only way.

Inspirational Quotes to Prevent War Movements

Even small quarrels seldom bring positive results. Here are some quotes to help with understanding the necessity of preventing wars:

• If we don’t end war, war will end us.
• Listen up – there’s no war that will end all wars.
• How much energy they put into harming each other. How little into saving.
• There’s no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.
• There is only one way to win a war which has begun: To stop it immediately; that is the way!
• Today the real test of power is not capacity to make war but capacity to prevent it.
• It seems that the only way to end outside wars is to end an inner war.
• Everybody should remember that during a war time, propaganda always replaces truth.
• Thinking that you can win a war is like thinking that you can win in a battle with an earthquake.
• It's not the military that starts wars, it's the politicians who do it.

Meaningful Quotes about War and Peace

War could not exist without peace. Quotes about war and peace may explain essence of these two subjects.

• War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
• The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.
• To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.
• Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people.
• My attitude to peace is rather based on the Burmese definition of peace – it really means removing all the negative factors that destroy peace in this world. So peace does not mean just putting an end to violence or to war, but to all other factors that threaten peace, such as discrimination, such as inequality, poverty.
• Fighting for peace, is like f***ing for chastity.
• Peace is only a short period of time when people work hard to pay the costs of all past  as well as future wars.
• A false peace is nothing better than a war.
• We should never forget what price we have paid for living in peace, because that price is thousands of lives that soldiers gave away in wars.

Positive Sayings about Love and War

It’s not easy to overcome something bad without trying to think positive. Here are some thoughts that might help:

• Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.
• The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.
• When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
• You live in a world at war. Spiritual attack must be a category you think in or you will misunderstand more than half of what happens in your marriage.
• All’s fair in love and war.
• Love and war are the same thing, and stratagems and policy are as allowable in the one as in the other.
• Unless we end wars, they will end us.
• Unconditional love and truth will put an end to all the wars.
• War makes people to sacrifice their lives and gives nothing in return except for suffering. It's only love that can save the world.
• We have to love each other more than we love wars.

Funny War Quotes to Cheer You Up

No, war isn’t funny. Still, there have been some quotes over the years that might put it in a different context, though not used to offend anyone. Like these:

• War does not determine who is right – only who is left.
• God created war so that Americans would learn geography.
• I would rather make love than war, but only because condoms kill millions of lives more enjoyably.
• No two countries that both had McDonald’s had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald’s.
• This film cost $31 million. With that kind of money I could have invaded some country.
• You won't find a better armor than staying out of gunshot.
• Any war signifies that a man has failed in being a thinking animal.
• You won't find any soldier who really survived a war.
• What is war if not an escape of cowards from the problems of peace?
• War is similar to love because they always finds a way.

Samples of Quotes about War and Battle

We can’t even avoid battles in our daily lives, though not as severe as those in wartime. Have a look at the following quotes about war and battles:

• Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.
• Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
• There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs.
• The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting each other – instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals.
• There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.
• We can't blame people for losing their optimism. Who would stay optimistic after so many wars?
• What is the true nature of war? It makes enemies out of people who haven't even met before. And it makes them kill each other out of fear.
• A true soldier won't admit defeat before the battle starts.

Truthful Quotes about War by Famous Generals

Who knows more about war than those involved in it? Famous generals have offered these thoughts:

• You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.
• The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
• We must recognize the chief characteristic of the modern era – a permanent state of what I call violent peace.
• War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.
• War settles nothing.
• War is a racket. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
• War isn't only about equipment, or troops or air force; it is also about spirit about morale.
• Every time someone makes an attempt to turn a war into easy and safe one, humiliation and disaster is the only result they get.
• In war there are no prizes, neither for those who won it, nor for those who lost.
• Most wars grow out of the desire of some individuals to take advantage of their fellow men.

REFERENCES:

1. War, The Philosophy of | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2020). Utm.Edu. https://iep.utm.edu/war/
2. 27 Quotes From Military Leaders and Statesmen on Wars and Bravery. (2019). ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/military-quotes-to-inspire-you-2830421