Edmund Burke Quotes

At present, the most effective way of preventing war would be for statesmen to direct politics so as to support a sound nationalism. This leads to concordance between people of kindred race and languages, whereas the conquest and coercion of people of different race and language inevitably lead to new wars.

The ruling classes today nourish the conviction that national hatreds and rivalries are inevitable.

In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful.

Peace as a goal is an ideal which will not be contested by any government or nation, not even the most belligerent.

Every nation reserves the right to go to war with every other nation. Therefore, every ethnic group wants to be a nation.

Europe is a world where men have decided to die together because they are unable to find a way to live together

If we were able to see people in other countries and learn about our differences, why would there be any misunderstandings? War would be a thing of the past.

In the long term we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars

Finland had a civil war less than 100 years ago, just like in Ireland. If you look at the history of newly independent nations, civil war is almost every time present, even in the United States.

If I could cause world peace by taking someone out to lunch, I'd go, 'Well, war isn't that terrible.'

There have been only 268 of the past 3,421 years free of war.

There will always be disputes between nations which, at times, will inflame the public and threaten conflicts, but the main thing is to educate the people of the world to be ever mindful that there are better means of settling such disputes than by war.

Could I have but a line a century hence crediting a contribution to the advance of peace, I would yield every honor which has been accorded by war.

War is not, in itself, a condition so much as the symptom of a condition - that of international anarchy.

But when will our leaders learn - war is not the answer.

Or a White Englishman would rather smash a White Frenchman than a Jew! Crazy!

It is not uncommon in modern times to see governments straining every nerve to keep the peace, and the people whom they represent, with patriotic enthusiasm and resentment over real or fancied wrongs, urging them forward to war.

In particular, the efforts to reestablish peace after the World War have been directed toward the formation of states and the regulation of their frontiers according to a consciously national program.

The idea that you can make love and not war really is pretty neat. That thing in Korea, the thing in Israel - that's all over the world. There must be a new way of thinking.

I hope that the German people will never again make the mistake of believing that because the American people are peace-loving, they will sit back hoping for peace if any nation uses force or the threat of force to acquire dominion over other peoples and other governments.

Without peace, there is no freedom, individual or national. War and hostilities are a form of slavery.

I could start a war in 30 seconds. But some countries spend 100 years trying to find peace. Just like good manners, peace has to be learned.

Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.

Most people have no imagination. If they could imagine the sufferings of others, they would not make them suffer so. What separated a German mother from a French mother?

A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.