Thomas Jefferson Quotes

Preventing a war is tantamount to winning a war.

You have to be willing to sacrifice as much to prevent war, as soldiers are willing to sacrifice to wage war.

I consider even a victorious war as an evil, from which statesmanship must endeavor to spare nations.

Preventing war is much better than protesting against the war. Protesting the war is too late.

We should seek by all means in our power to avoid war, by analysing possible causes, by trying to remove them, by discussion in a spirit of collaboration and good will.

For ultimately, the only way to win wars, is to prevent them occurring in the first place.

I see this as the central issue of our time: how to find a substitute for war in human ingenuity, imagination, courage, sacrifice, patience... War is not inevitable, however persistent it is, however long a history it has in human affairs. It does not come out of some instinctive human need. It is manufactured by political leaders, who then must make a tremendous effort--by enticement, by propaganda, by coercion--to mobilize a normally reluctant population to go to war.

The way to prevent war is to bend every energy toward preventing it, not to proceed by the dubious indirection of preparing for it.

War is possible only if you have a lot of enemies. If all the enemies get together and form one front - if you cut down the number of enemies - there would be no war.

WE MUST DEVISE A SYSTEM IN WHICH PEACE IS MORE REWARDING THAN WAR.

The biggest difference would be made if we don't have wars to begin with.

We best avoid wars by taking even physical action to stop small ones.

Today the real test of America's power and wisdom is not our capacity to make war but our capacity to prevent it. Prevention must be our overriding objective. It can be done. Surrendering to the inevitability of combat only paves the way for its occurring.

War can be avoided, and it ought to be avoided. I want no war.

Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.

I labored hard to avoid trouble and bloodshed.

The question whether the long effort to put an end to war can succeed without another major convulsion challenges not only our minds but our sense of responsibility.

Neutrality is a negative word. It does not express what America ought to feel. We are not trying to keep out of trouble; we are trying to preserve the foundations on which peace may be rebuilt.

Among the many defects that have been pointed out in the Federal Constitution ... is an office for promoting and preserving perpetual peace in our country.... Let a Secretary of Peace be established.

When somebody says, 'Oh, Buffy, you're such a warrior for peace', I stop them and say, 'No, I'm not really a warrior for peace. What I promote is alternative conflict resolution'.

It is far easier and more effective - and not just in terms of cost - to prevent conventional conflicts than to intervene after an eruption of violence.

At the beginning of this century, people never questioned the effectiveness of war, never thought there could be real peace. Now, people are tired of war and see it as ineffective in solving anything.

You cannot prevent and prepare for war at the same time.

Peace, like war, can succeed only where there is a will to enforce it, and where there is available power to enforce it.

The power of making war often prevents it, and in our case would give efficacy to our desire of peace.