Malachy McCourt Quotes

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living.

In my humble opinion, in the nuclear world, the true enemy is war itself.

The end of the Cold War removed the immediate causes of whole destruction but not the threat contained in our knowledge. We must tame this knowledge with the ideals of justice, caring, and compassion summoned from our common human spiritual and moral heritage, if we are to live in peace and serenity in the twenty-first century.

If men do not now succeed in abolishing war, civilization and mankind are doomed.

War has been more common than peace, and extended periods of peace have been rare in a world divided into multiple states

To discover a system for the avoidance of war is a vital need of our civilisation.

When a war breaks out, people say: "It's too stupid; it can't last long." But though a war may well be "too stupid," that doesn't prevent its lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves.

There is no telling how many wars it will take to secure freedom in the homeland.

Even a fool could see that one didn't need a war, nuclear or otherwise, to destroy oneself; the rising cost of weaponry could do that quite nicely.

Giving peace a chance only gives Saddam Hussein more time to prepare for war on his terms, at a time of his choosing, in pursuit of ambitions that will only grow as his power to achieve them grows.

The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.

War is the greatest plague that can afflict mankind... Any scourge is preferable to it.

The only way to end war is communication between people.

the issue of war or peace is an issue that concerns not only experts on Foreign Affairs but every citizen of the United States.

Wars--and what is war except crime on a mass scale?--destroy rather than produce. The vandal that destroys a window causes not only the owner to bear the costs of replacing it, but costs those whom he planned on using that money to buy from. The same goes for wars. The warlords--of war and peace--destroyed so much, not only what existed, but all those new things that could have existed, if only individuals were left in peace.

Why is war such an easy option? Why does peace remain such an elusive goal? We know statesmen skilled at waging war, but where are those dedicated enough to humanity to find a way to avoid war

It is fear which leads us to war, ... It is fear which leads us to believe that we must kill or be killed. Fear which leads us to attack those who have not attacked us. Fear which leads us to ring our nation in the very heavens with weapons of mass destruction.

War is a curtain of dense black fabric across all the hopes and kindliness of mankind. Yet always it has let through some gleams of light, and not--I am not dreaming--it grows threadbare, and here and there and at a thousand points the light is breaking through.

War represents the supreme failure of nations to resolve their differences. From a strictly pragmatic standpoint, it is the most inefficient waste of lives and resources ever conceived.

In Europe, war is a disease which has been in the family for generations: no one is surprised when it makes another leap. Even the patient only attends to it with part of his mind.

Nobody welcomes a war - not if they're smart. But war finds everyone sooner or later. It's inevitable.

There's no war that will end all wars.

As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure.

All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal.

Some think the worst horrors of war might be avoided by an international agreement not to use atomic bombs. This is a vain hope.