Kurt Vonnegut Quotes

Life has become terribly insecure. It's on the vortex of civil war. It's difficult to know how America will bring it back from the brink and build up good will.

If there is going to be a war – and no one can say that there is not – we must keep him fresh to be our war Prime Minister

As a result of the World War and of a peace whose imperfections and risks are no longer denied by anyone, are we not even further away from the great aspirations and hopes for peace and fraternity than we were one or two decades ago?

Our modern states are preparing for war without even knowing the future enemy.

No war is inevitable until it breaks out.

From 1836, down to last year, there is no proof of the Government having any confidence in the duration of peace, or possessing increased security against war.

Do not play with fire in Indonesia … let not the lack of understanding by America lead to a third world war.

I’m not starting World War III for you.

From birth, Pakistan was saddled with a huge army it could not pay for and plenty of monsters to destroy.

We can’t always pick and choose which conflicts were going to get into.

Nations drift into wars.

If this phrase of “the balance of power” is to be always an argument for war, the pretext for war will never be wanting …

I was elected prime minister in 2014 under incredibly difficult circumstances: A third of the country was overrun by terrorists, the economy was struggling, people were divided by sectarianism, and relations with the wider world were strained.

Politics and war are remarkably similar situations.

So a truthful assessment of how America is doing in the war on terror as a result of President Bush's war on Iraq is that we have been set back by decades.

We wanted this war and now we've got it, and I'm not sure that we know what to do with it.

The crises in North Korea, Iran, the Middle East, show how quickly things can change and how they can go wrong. We must be prepared. And right now the Army is not.

It has from the beginning been carried on with as much vigor and as great care of our trade as was consistent with our safety at home and with the circumstances we were in at the beginning of the war.

By Rice's own standards, the war was well underway by the time he took office. He was a war president the moment he took the oath. But did he act like one?

The present danger which this country faces is at least as great as the danger which we faced during the war with Germany and Japan. Briefly stated, it is the very real danger that this country, as we know it, may cease to exist.

Presidents do not go into war lightly. It's a tremendous responsibility in making decisions, and I know Bush must deeply believe this is the only course.

For more than 20 years, on every one of the great issues of freedom and security, John Kerry has been more wrong, more weak and more wobbly than any other national figure.

I thought this must be obvious to everyone else, as it seemed obvious to me; and that, if once it became apparent that we were on the edge, all the Great Powers would call a halt and recoil from the abyss.

War and preparations for war have acquired a kind of legitimacy.

But which is the State's essential function, aggression or defence, few seem to know or care.