John Dos Passos Quotes

Pacifism in the face of war is not only irresponsible - it is immoral. Refusing to meet force with force in the name of peace will beget not peace, but further death and destruction, the very violence the pacifists seek to avoid.

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

A serious pacifist approach can't win wars against enemies whose only program is violence. That doesn't mean I think the US has fought terrorists so wisely most of the time since 9/11. But there are some enemies that need to be destroyed by force lest they destroy much much more.

There may have been a time when war served as a negative good by preventing the spread and growth of an evil force, but the destructive power of modern weapons eliminates even the possibility that war may serve as a negative good.

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 always a matter of doing evil in the hope that good may come of it.

I can understand why mankind hasn't given up war. During a war you get to drive tanks through the sides of buildings and shoot foreigners - two things that are usually frowned on during peacetime.

The drama can only be brought to its climax in one of two ways -- through the selective brutality of terrorism or the impartial horrors of war.

We must conquer war or war will conquer us.

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.

With the war in Iraq, he [Dalai Lama] feels that the causes of that lie maybe hundreds of years ago, and he says, "What we do now may have consequences far into the future that we will never see."

Listen up—there’s no war that will end all wars,’ Crow tells me. ‘War breeds war. Lapping up the blood shed by violence, feeding on wounded flesh. War is a perfect, self-contained being. You need to know that.

Try to reject war and give peace a chance. Question the powers that be and find out why they make the dubious decisions they do that send young people to war.

If we do not end war - war will end us. Everybody says that, millions of people believe it, and nobody does anything.

Violence and war lead only to death.

We want to get rid of the militarist not simply because he hurts and kills, but because he is an intolerable thick-voiced blockhead who stands hectoring and blustering in our way of achievement.

War is not a polite recreation but the vilest thing in life, and we ought to understand that and not play at war.

Old men make wars that young men may die.

Peace is only better than war when it's not hell too. War being hell makes sense.

The term 'just war' is an internal contradiction. War is inherently unjust, and the great challenge of our time is how to deal with evil, tyranny and oppression without killing huge numbers of people.

War is the greatest plague that can afflict mankind... Any scourge is preferable to it.

And always we had wars, and more wars, and still other wars - all over Europe, all over the world. "Sometimes in the private interest of royal families," Satan said, "sometimes to crush a weak nation; but never a war started by the aggressor for any clean purpose - there is no such war in the history of the race."

War with all its glorification of brute force is essentially a degrading thing.

War cannot be humanized. It can only be abolished.

After a lifetime of war-watching, I see war as an endemic human disease, and governments are the carriers.