Henry David Thoreau Quotes

It might or might not be right to kill, but sometimes it is necessary.

Killing ain't fair, but somebody gotta do it.

Is it wrong to kill something that wants to kill you?

There are two kinds of people in this world, son. Those who save lives, and those who take lives." "And what of those who protect and defend? Those who save lives by taking lives?" "That's like trying to stop a storm by blowing harder. Ridiculous. You can't protect by killing.

You live by the gun and knife, and die by the gun and knife.

I'm a crack shot and I've won medals for shooting. But I don't think I could shoot a person.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

I have no regrets. I think we did right, and we couldn't have done differently. In wartime, it was a desperate time .... When you are in a war to the death, I don't think you stand around and ask, is it right?

The essential effect of war on a citizen's conscience is nothing but a legalization and glorification of things that in times of peace constitute crime.

Fighting is not something that I enjoy doing. It's something that I do that I feel that I have to do.

I didn't go out looking for fights as a kid, but if it was necessary, I'd fight. Fighting was a daily thing where we lived.

I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him.

To my mind, to kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder.

I never shot nobody I didnt have to.

You kill -- You die." That was probably the most naive thing I've ever said. The fact is -- in most cases, NOW, the way things are -- you kill -- you LIVE.

the same question arose in every soul: "For what, for whom, must I kill and be killed?"... p982

We shall not kill and maybe next time we even won't.

No weapon has ever settled a moral problem. It can impose a solution but it cannot guarantee it to be a just one. You can wipe out your opponents. But if you do it unjustly you become eligible for being wiped out yourself.

The first time you blow someone away is not an insignificant event. That said, there are some *******s in the world that just need to be shot. There are hunters and there are victims. By your discipline, you will decide if you are a hunter or a victim.

People ask me if I would shoot and kill people, and I don't think I would.

I do not wish to shed a drop of blood, but 'I must fight the course.' Tis all that's left to me.

There are some things to die for but none to kill for.

War is just to those to whom war is necessary.

If in order to kill the enemy you have to kill an innocent, don't take the shot. Don't create more enemies than you take out by some immoral act.

Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight. But roaring Bill, who killed him, thought it right.