Wendell Berry Quotes

It is through our anger and hatred that we transform people into enemies.

Man invents war. Man discovers peace. He invents war from without. He discovers peace from within. War man throws. Peace man sows. The smile of war is the flood of human blood. The smile of peace is the love, below, above.

The worst thing about war is that so many people enjoy it.

Human beings seem unable to live without war, but they are also unable to live without love.

I think we might well ask: How does one destroy his enemy by becoming like him?

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.

What my enemies call a general peace is my destruction. What I call peace is merely the disarmament of my enemies. Am I not more moderate than they?

There's been rumors of war and wars that have been The meaning of life has been lost in the wind And some people thinkin' that the end is close by 'Stead of learnin' to live they are learnin' to die

All the wars, all the hatred, all the ignorance in the world come out of being so invested in our opinions.

War stirs in men's hearts the mud of their worst instincts. It puts a premium on violence, nourishes hatred, and gives free rein to cupidity. It crushes the weak, exalts the unworthy, and bolsters tyranny .. .Time and time again it has destroyed all ordered living, devastated hope, and put the prophets to death.

War is the normal state of the people.

True wars are never won.

Either man will abolish war, or war will abolish man.

All disasters stem from us. Why is there a war? Perhaps because now and then I might be inclined to snap at my neighbour. Because I and my neighbour and everyone else do not have enough love. Yet we could fight war and all its excrescences by releasing each day, the love which is shackled inside us, and giving it a chance to live.

We can forgive [the Arabs] for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with [the Arabs] when they love their children more than they hate us...

So war and peace start in the human heart. Whether that heart is open or whether that heart closes has global implications.

When a nation becomes obsessed with the guns of war, it loses its social perspective.... There is something about a war like this that makes people insensitive. It dulls the conscience. It strengthens the forces of reaction, and it brings into being bitterness and hatred and violence.

When people go at war they cheapen things.

War is an absolute failure of imagination, scientific and political. That a war can be represented as helping a people to 'feel good' about themselves, or their country, is a measure of that failure.

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.

I want war. To me all means will be right. My motto is not "Don't, whatever you do, annoy the enemy." My motto is "Destroy him by all and any means." I am the one who will wage the war!

They are nations of eternal war. All their energies are expended in the destruction of the labor, property, and lives of their people.

It seems to me that there are two great enemies of peace - fear and selfishness.

No kind of bomb ever built will extinguish hatred.

War among men defiles this world.