William James Quotes

I hold that all war is morally wrong and its prosecution a crime. I hold life as sacred and cannot bring myself to join in the slaughter of my fellow men.

Everyone's a pacifist between wars. It's like being a vegetarian between meals.

Unless now the world adopts nonviolence, it will spell certain suicide for mankind.

As far as I am concerned, war itself is immoral.

Nothing can justify war.

Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace.

I think violence can never be justified.

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.

You must show the world that you abhor fighting.

The scenes on this field would have cured anybody of war.

I think war should be illegal.

I am opposed to war, to killing people, to any kind of hatred and violence.

War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.

We must fight for peace bravely as we fought in war.

I'm very much against war; I'm very much against terrorism of any kind. I find terrorism to be one of the most appalling things that can exist in society.

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

The measure of civilization in a people is to be found in its just appreciation of the wrongfulness of war.

Vice foments war; it is virtue which actually fights. If there were no virtue, we would live in peace forever.

Do you not see, first, that - as a mental abstract - physical force is directly opposed to morality; and secondly, that it practically drives out of existence the moral forces?

The main goal of the future is to stop violence. The world is addicted to it.

I know that war and mayhem run in our blood. I refuse to believe that they must dominate our lives. We humans are animals, too, but animals with amazing powers of rationality, morality, society. We can use our strength and courage not to savage each other, but to defend our highest purposes.

I was never convinced that war was the best system to bring democracy to the country.

Wars, however frequent and destructive they may be, have never been able to kill entirely the intellectual and moral sense which raises man above the beast.

If I could cause world peace by taking someone out to lunch, I'd go, 'Well, war isn't that terrible.'

I have never advocated war except as a means of peace.