Phil Klay Quotes

War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen circumstances that no human wisdom can calculate the end; it has but one thing certain, and that is to increase taxes.

War is so complex that it is beyond the capability of the human mind to understand all the variables.

Oftentimes, discussion of war gets flattened to a discussion of trauma.

We have a tendency to think of war as this quasi-mystical thing, and that interpretation flattens the experience - by using different perspectives, I wanted to open a place for readers to compare and contrast, to make judgments, to engage.

My argument is that War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading.

We know now that in modern warfare, fought on any considerable scale, there can be no possible economic gain for any side. Win or lose, there is nothing but waste and destruction.

In wars, serious mistakes are made.

War is the ultimate realization of modern technology.

I like war.

It's an important fact of life, war.

The definition of a modern approach to war is the acknowledgement of individual lives lost.

War is so complex; human nature is so complex. There's no filmmaker who has ever figured it out perfectly.

So actually war is politically profitable, financially profitable, morally depraved.

If you're going to write about war, the ugly side is inevitable. Suffering and death are obviously part of war.

A professional soldier understands that war means killing people, war means maiming people, war means families left without fathers and mothers.

The World War broke out with such elemental violence, and with such resort to all means for leading or misleading public opinion, that no time was available for reflection and consideration.

You could argue that war is always an irrational act, and yet many states enter into military conflict out of rational calculation or national interest or the stability or longevity of their regime.

I have known war as few men now living know it. It's very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes.

Nevertheless, China was unfortunately unable to understand Japan's real position, and it is greatly to be regretted that the Sino-Japanese War became one of long duration.

I want to tell you that I think this war is a great mistake.

War is tragedy. The great war stories are tragedies. It's the failure of diplomacy. 'War and Peace,' 'A Farewell to Arms,' 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' Those are some of the greatest tragedies.

Obviously, the greater the length of a war the higher is likely to be the number of casualties in it on either side.

Sophisticated modern weapons have not eliminated the uncertainty that puts war and warlike activities "in the province of chance" and makes war an extremely dangerous activity with results that are unpredictable and depend as much on "moral force" as on numbers and technology.

One looks ahead to a war and imagines it as a single, final, absolute event. It is nothing of the kind. War is a condition, like peace, with good days and bad days, moods of optimism and despair.

War is always a very blunt instrument and almost always produces uncertain results.