Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes

What a country calls its vital... interests are not things that help its people live, but things that help it make war.

Let us recollect that peace or war will not always be left to our option; that however moderate or unambitious we may be, we cannot count upon the moderation, or hope to extinguish the ambition of others.

War is the trade of Kings.

The military don't start wars. Politicians start wars.

Our country has never started a war. Our sole objective is deterrence, the strength and capability it takes to prevent war.

Wars are fought for political considerations. Military victory alone is never enough

I could have been very popular if I had launched a military attack on Iran but I chose patience.

Any idea that you can have a league for security is nuts, and all people who favor it are potential murderers… as long as man is man, there will be war and the only way to avoid trouble is to have the best army and navy, which we now have.

If there is going to be a war – and no one can say that there is not – we must keep him fresh to be our war Prime Minister

Politics and war are remarkably similar situations.

The object of war is victory; that of victory is conquest; and that of conquest preservation.

Peace is purchased from strength. It's not purchased from weakness or unilateral retreats.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

Our modern states are preparing for war without even knowing the future enemy.

Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times.

In times of peace, the war party insists on making preparation for war. As soon as prepared for, it insists on making war.

We cannot have peace if we are only concerned with peace. War is not an accident. It is the logical outcome of a certain way of life. If we want to attack war, we have to attack that way of life.

War and preparations for war have acquired a kind of legitimacy.

To secure peace is to prepare for war.

In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful.

War is the ultimate tool of politics.

War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means.

Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.

War is the continuation of politics by other means.

The stark and inescapable fact is that today we cannot defend our society by war since total war is total destruction, and if war is used as an instrument of policy, eventually we will have total war.