War Philosophy Quotes

Europeans are far more anti-war than Americans. They've had more wars, and they really just don't believe in it any more. But Americans do.

The Japanese had a very strong belief in Bushido, death before dishonour. They were fighting for their country; they were the aggressors in World War II.

However, while the Nazi barbarians and their collaborators threatened the entire world, I could not accept his philosophy and, after several earlier attempts, was finally accepted into the Canadian Infantry Corps during the last year of World War II.

Perpetual peace is a dream, and not even a beautiful dream, and War is an integral part of God’s ordering of the universe.

The object of war is to survive it.

[...] to introduce into the philosophy of war itself a principle of moderation would be an absurdity

Our vision of war is probably too influenced by the biggest one of all, World War II, where the forces of evil were so unambiguous and so relentless that there was no choice but to commit to total war and to demand unconditional surrender. Seldom, though, is it quite that clear cut.

War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter.

The classic war movies of the post-Vietnam era have generally taken on grand, philosophical themes: the meaninglessness of war, the grinding down of man by the machine - the machine being war itself, represented by someone like Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in 'Full Metal Jacket,' the sadistic marine who turns his boys into instruments of death.

Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.

There is no such thing as an "atrocity" in warfare that is greater than the atrocity of warfare itself.

It is a long-cherished tradition among a certain type of military thinker that huge casualties are the main thing. If they are on the other side then this is a valuable bonus.

He who stays on the defensive does not make war, he endures it.

I reject the idea that there is some sort of existential "clash of civilizations." I am an interventionist, but not a militarist. War should always be a last resort.