War is evil, and it is often the lesser evil.
War is a distraction; we gain everything by it; we can only lose one thing by it: life ; – then so much the worse![La guerre, c’est une distraction : on y gagne tout, on n’y perd qu’une chose, la vie ; alors, tant pis !]
War has a momentum of its own and it carries you away from all thoughtful intentions when you get into it.
War grows out of the desire of the individual to gain advantage at the expense of his fellow men.
War grows out of ordinary human nature.
War doesn’t negate decency. It demands it, even more than in times of peace.
War being the greatest of evils, all its accessories necessarily partake of the same character.
War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.
Total war is no longer only between all members of one national community and all those of another: it is also total because it will very likely set the whole world up in flames.
To beat a retreat with the honors of war has always been the triumph of the ablest generals.[Battre en retraite avec les honneurs de la guerre a toujours été le chef-d’œuvre des plus habiles généraux.]
There’s never been a true war that wasn’t fought between two sets of people who were certain they were in the right. The really dangerous people believe that they are doing whatever they are doing solely and only because it is without question the right thing to do. And that is what makes them dangerous.
There never was a good War, or a bad Peace.
