Haruki Murakami Quotes

The story of the human race is war. Except for brief and precarious interludes there has never been peace in the world; and long before history began murderous strife was universal and unending.

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.

From time immemorial, people have talked about peace without achieving it. Do we simply lack enough experience? Though we talk peace, we wage war. Sometimes we even wage war in the name of peace. . . . War may be too much a part of history to be eliminated—ever.

It has been claimed that the aim of the present war is to end war. But war cannot end war, neither can militarism destroy militarism.

We know how to win wars. We must learn now to win peace.

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

Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance. God help me, I do love it so.

The only way to end war is communication between people.

Aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged, ultimately leads to war.

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 always easy to begin a war, but very difficult to stop one.

When I say war, I'm not talking about mental war; I'm talking about totally eliminating the obstacles to transformation of our children.

A smart soldier wants to know the causes of wars. Also how to end them. After all, war is the normal state of affairs, isn't it? Peace is the name of the ideal we deduce from the fact that there have been interludes between wars.

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

For all the flailing and huffing and puffing, there is a kind of fatality about the process of war-making and the excuses we find for it, the consolation of belligerence in politics.

War is the rule of force, and peace is the reign of law.

War is pillage versus resistance and if illusions of magnitude could be transmuted into ideals of magnanimity, peace might be realized.

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 can’t have peace without a war.

It's very unfortunate that war has always been and probably always will be a part of human beings on this planet. It's a terrible thing.

War is an absolute failure of imagination, scientific and political.

We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only be abolished through war.

There's going to be other wars. I'm sorry to tell you, there's going to be other wars. We will never surrender, but there will be other wars.

War's Legitimate Object Is More Perfect Peace.

You consider war to be inevitable? Very good. Let everyone who advocates war be enrolled in a special regiment of advance-guards, for the front of every storm, of every attack, to lead them all!