John Edwards Quotes

I don’t oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots. Or of patriotism. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.

Today, war of necessity is used by critics of military action to describe unavoidable response to an attack like that on Pearl Harbor that led to our prompt, official declaration of war, while they characterize as unwise wars of choice the wars in Korea, Vietnam and the current war in Iraq.

A sane person doesn't think war is a good idea. I'm not a pacifist. I feel that there are situations where fighting is inescapable, but we don't go looking for those things.

We believe in peace, but we are not pacifists. Sometimes we have to use force

The United States will never take part in an aggressive war.

First, we could have defied both of them and could have gone to war against both of these nations for this violation of international law and interference with our neutral rights.

At every step the vast majority have expressed horror at the idea of an aggressive war.

I'm really interested in how conflicts arise and how they reach points of no return. I'm no pacifist. Sometimes force is necessary. But war is a choice.

I think that war is diplomacy by other means, for sure, and there have been wars that have been fought for righteous reasons. There are wars that have had to be fought, and there will probably continue to be.

A rational fear of an imminent danger is said to be a justifiable cause of war.

Let us face squarely the paradox that the world which goes to war is a world, usually, genuinely desiring peace.

Nations drift into wars.

Unless a nation's life faces peril, war is murder.

What I've learned, and will try to remember from now on, is that defending your country's credibility is never sufficient reason to fight a war.

I think, unfortunately, we live in a world where people attack other people and I think a legitimate rationale for war is the saving of human life, the saving of lives of people who cannot defend themselves.

Some in my party threaten to send a message that they don't know a just war when they see it, and more broadly that they're not prepared to use our military strength to protect our security and the cause of freedom.

Countries that intervene militarily rarely do so out of pure altruism.

It was essentially for self defence that we went to war in Afghanistan and would go to war in Iraq.

Every move we make in fear of the next war in fact hastens it.

If Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into than to get out of, and, frankly, the facile way in which too many people talk about, 'Well, let's just go attack them.'

We cannot be both the world's leading champion of peace and the world's leading supplier of the weapons of war.

Politicians do not enter into wars lightly. It is usually the military themselves who are keener to become involved.

That was a declaration of war

It makes no difference who says that our objective is peace, even if he be the President of the United States. Our actions speak louder than words, and our actions in Asia today are the actions of warmaking.

Let the natural process of war among nations smother the weak.