“[In] the national and religious conflict of the [Byzantine and Saracen] empires, peace was without confidence, and war without mercy.” WarReligiousConflictMercyEmpiresByzantineReligious Conflict Author:Edward Gibbon
“If we clear the air of the fog of catchwords which surround the conduct of war, and grasp that in the human will lies the source and mainspring of all conflict, as of all other activities of man's life, it becomes clear that our object in war can only be attained by the subjugation of the opposing will. All acts, such as defeat in the field, propaganda, blockade, diplomacy, or attack on the centres of government and population, are seen to be but means to that end.” IfsMenHumansMeanWarEndsGovernmentLyingClearAirFieldsObjectsSourceActivityConflictDefeatPopulationPropagandaSurroundCentreFogDiplomacyOpposingSubjugationHuman WillBlockades Author:B. H. Liddell Hart
“Something that is appealing is wars are terrible and ugly and hard and each conflict is different, but of every conflict I've ever gone to, I've also seen people being extraordinary in a good sense. It's not just a black and white extreme situation that pushes people to extremes and they do crazy bad stuff. You also see crazy brave stuff. You see humanity in a different light.” PeopleDifferentWarHardLightHumanityStuffBlackWhiteSituationGoneCrazyTerribleConflictBraveExtraordinaryUglyExtremesBlack And WhiteGood SenseBad Stuff Author:Shaul Schwarz
“Long-term trauma for women who have survived armed conflict is a haunting reminder that health issues and depression can follow decades after the end of war, but women who hope for healing can and do move forward.” LongWarEndsMovingTermHealingIssuesConflictTraumaDecadesMoving ForwardLong TermSurvivedRemindersHauntingHealth IssuesArmed Conflict Author:Zainab Salbi
“We have sacrificed and we have endured extreme hardship, but we have maintained the key goal - we have denied the enemy its main objective of creating two political geographies in this country through the all-out war which has been unleashed against us. If we had a first-rate air force, the nature of the conflict would be completely different.” IfsFirstsHas BeensTwoDifferentWarCountryWould BePoliticalForceGoalEnemyAirKeysConflictCreatingRateExtremesObjectivesHardshipDeniedGeographyAir ForceUnleashed Author:Ashraf Ghani
“It is a conviction that war is not an answer to human conflict any more than cannibalism is an answer to human hunger.” HumansWarAnswersConflictHungerConvictionCannibalism Author:Bruce Kent
“My goal is not to resolve conflicts and tensions in the region through more war. My goal is to make sure that, you know, we are able to negotiate a deal that we can verify.” KnowsWarAbleGoalDealsConflictTensionRegionsResolveVerify Author:Barack Obama
“I think nonviolence and the mediation of conflict by means of respecting civility must be promoted. But being the kind of beings we [peoplep] are - wrestling with greed, and wrestling with fears and security, anxieties, wrestling with hatred that's shot through all of us - wars are here to stay.” ThinkingKindMeanWarSecurityConflictAnxietyShotsHatredGreedWrestlingNonviolenceCivilityMediation Author:Cornel West
“The Iraq War was the first conflict in western history in which an imperialist war was massively protested against before it had even been launched.” FirstsWarConflictWesternIraqIraq War Author:Noam Chomsky
“Vietnam is a jungle. You had jungle warfare. Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, you have sand. [There is no need to worry about a protracted war because] from a historical basis, Middle East conflicts do not last a long time.” NeedsLongWarLastsWorryMiddleConflictLong TimeBasesHistoricalIraqEastSandVietnamMiddle EastWarfareJungleArabiaSaudi ArabiaSaudisKuwaitMiddle East Conflict Author:Dan Quayle
“It is a fact that many of the wars and conflicts happening all over the world are aggravated or fought strictly for geopolitical fossil fuel energy interests, and many of the world's most dangerous regimes are funded by fossil fuel dollars.” WorldWarFactsEnergyInterestDangerousConflictHappeningsDollarsFuelRegimesFossilsFossil FuelGeopoliticalAggravated Author:Mark Ruffalo
“If you will move now, within the next three years the land you find yourself in will be producing great treasures. In the third year, the War of the Kingdoms will begin, and Kingdom will rise against kingdoms. The kingdoms of this world will also come into great conflict. I have a Kingdom that I am preparing. I will remember this Kingdom and the Seed and the Seed's seed of this Kingdom. I have a Kingdom that will triumph! Shout that the kingdoms of this earth are becoming My Kingdoms!” IfsWorldYearsWarEarthRememberMovingThreeNextLandThis WorldBecomingConflictThirdsSeedsTreasureKingdomsTriumphFinding YourselfThree YearsPreparingRise Against Author:Chuck Pierce
“All films are political, whether they mean to be or not. Star Wars is political. As soon as you have conflict, which is the key to most films, you have politics. It's just that some are more artful with the handling of politics than others.” MeanWarFilmPoliticalStarsKeysConflict Author:Sydney Pollack
“Congratulations to Bill and Hillary Clinton: this weekend, 33rd wedding anniversary. How about that? And you thought the Iraqi war was a never-ending conflict.” WarConflictBillsClintonWeekendCongratulationsNever EndingWedding Anniversary Author:David Letterman
“In every major war we have fought in the 19th and 20th centuries. Americans have been asked to pay higher taxes - and nonessential programs have been cut - to support the military effort. Yet during this Iraq war, taxes have been lowered and domestic spending has climbed. In contrast to World War I, World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam, for most Americans this conflict has entailed no economic sacrifice. The only people really sacrificing for this war are the troops and their families.” PeopleWorldHas BeensWarEffortPaySupportCuttingSacrificeEconomicCenturyMilitaryHigherConflictTaxesMajorsProgramIraqSpendingWar Of The WorldsVietnamWorld War IiContrastWorld War ITroops20th CenturyKoreanIraq WarKorean War Author:Robert Hormats
“The US is often the first to call for transparency and integrity in the reporting of other governments. It has never provided transparency or integrity in its reporting on the war in Iraq. It has downplayed the growth of the insurgency and other civil conflicts. It exaggerated progress in the development of Iraqi forces, and has reported meaningless macroecomic figures claiming 'progress' in the face of steadily deteriorating economic conditions for most Iraqis outside the Kurdish security zone, and does so in the face of almost incredible incompetence by USAID and the Corps of Engineers.” FirstsDoeWarGovernmentFacesForceGrowthProgressEconomicConditionsSecurityFiguresDevelopmentIntegrityConflictIncrediblesIraqZoneMeaninglessEngineersTransparencyIncompetenceExaggeratedInsurgencyDeterioratingKurdishUsaid Author:Anthony H. Cordesman
“Even wars, big conflicts that have drawn a lot of news coverage, sometimes seem to me to have a center that hasn't been described, that might yet be glimpsed if approached from some odd angle.” IfsWarSometimesBigsSeemsMightConflictNewsOddAngleCoverageNews Coverage Author:William Finnegan
“Wars and conflicts begin in the mind, then they are expressed in words and then executed through physical action, so personal transformation is intricately connected with the social and political transformation.” MindWarActionPoliticalSocialConflictTransformationConnectedPersonal Transformation Author:Satish Kumar
“During the civil war, the Sudanese government armed the Misseriya nomads as proxy. Even though both groups had coexisted quite well prior to the conflict, it all become much more difficult as a consequence.” WellsWarGovernmentDifficultGroupsConflictConsequenceCivil WarNomadProxyDuring The Civil War Author:Rebecca Hamilton
“The biggest religious wars and persecutions in history occur when religions, each claiming their own absolute truths, come into conflict.” WarReligiousConflictAbsolutesPersecutionAbsolute TruthReligious Wars Author:Susan Jacoby
“If you have a chance to see Children Of War, you can watch expert trauma counselors try to help bring healing to young people who have experienced atrocities in conflict.” PeopleIfsTryingChildrenWarHelpingYoungChanceHealingWatchesConflictTraumaExpertsAtrocitiesCounselor Author:Mitali Perkins
“To say that we're going to end countries or eradicate terrorism, and that it's a long war over many years, with many different instruments, suggests a much more complex and drawn-out conflict for which, I think, most Americans aren't prepared.” ThinkingYearsLongDifferentWarEndsCountryConflictInstrumentsPreparedComplexesTerrorism Author:Edward Said
“The war you feel within - that restlessness, the unending uncertainty - is not to be dismissed, avoided, hated. That internal conflict is not dark, it is a beaming light trying to focus you, the rolling thunderous call of courage, the rays of greatness seeking to explode beyond your skin to touch once more the Spirit of Possibility.” FeelsTryingWarLightSpiritDarkFocusPossibilityGreatnessConflictSkinsSeekingUncertaintyHatedInternalsRaysRollingAvoidedRestlessnessUnendingInternal Conflict Author:Brendon Burchard
“What we're also looking at, if we do not transform our energy system, is more international war and conflict as countries fight over limited natural resources, including water and land to grow their crops.” IfsWarCountryFightingEnergyGrowsWaterNaturalLandConflictResourcesIncludingInternationalCropsNatural Resources Author:Bernie Sanders
“Conflicts often stem from a couple of leaders on both sides that are badly brought up. They'd rather go to war than compromise. And in business, you're competing with other companies all the time, but you don't end up going to war with each other.” WarEndsSidesCompanyLeaderCoupleConflictCompromiseStemCompetingBoth SidesGoing To War Author:Richard Branson
“I'd spent thirty years visiting the Dalai Lama, and twenty years as a journalist going to difficult places, war zones and revolutions from North Korea to Haiti and Beirut to Sri Lanka, and the question came up: What does this man have to offer to this world which seems so torn up and so attached to conflict?” MenWorldYearsDoeWarSeemsDifficultThis WorldRevolutionOffersConflictTwentiesJournalistThirtyZoneTornKoreaNorth KoreaVisitingThirty YearsHaitiLamaDalaiSri LankaWar ZonesBeirut Author:Pico Iyer
“However, there is a fundamental difference between the issue related to Japan's history and our negotiations with China. What is it all about? The Japanese issue resulted from World War II and is stipulated in the international instruments on the outcomes of World War II, while our discussions on border issues with our Chinese counterparts have nothing to do with World War II or any other military conflicts. This is the first, or rather, I should say, the second point.” WorldShouldFirstsWarDifferencesIssuesMilitaryConflictFundamentalsInstrumentsInternationalChinaChineseDiscussionBordersWar Of The WorldsOutcomesRelatedJapanWorld War IiWorld War INegotiationCounterparts Author:Vladimir Putin
“We know that Muhammad waged war against the Qurayshi tribe, his own tribe, and it's from that conflict that much of the concept of jihad and verses that ISIS now uses to justify beheadings come from. A young man just told me that he went back and read this carefully [and saw] the prophet and his people were fighting the Quraysh because they were not allowing the prophet and his people to practice their religion.” PeopleKnowsMenWarUseYoungFightingPracticeSawsConflictConceptsYoung ManProphetJustifyAllowingVersesTribesIsisMuhammadJihad Author:Rukmini Maria Callimachi
“In one question you are expressing a world of opinion. Because it is you who thinks that America has been mistakenly starting these conflicts. I happen to agree with you, and I will repeat what your question suggested...we have mistakenly gotten into one fracas after another. Why we do that [United States has insisted on keeping up a string of enemies, and the wars associated with creating those enemies], I think it's because we're afraid to look in the mirror and understand who we are.” ThinkingWorldLooksHas BeensWarStatesHappensAmericaUnitedOpinionEnemyUnited StatesConflictCreatingMirrorsAgreeStartingRepeatsWho We AreStrings Author:Norman Lear
“William R. Polk discusses the Spanish guerrilla war against Napoleon [ Bonaparte] and other cases where the conflict turns into a political war, and the invader, who usually has overwhelming power, loses because they can't fight the political war.” WarPoliticalTurnsFightingLosesCasesConflictOverwhelmingInvadersGuerrillasBonaparte Author:Noam Chomsky
“Syria is a civil war. Syria began as a popular uprising, just like the other experiences in the Arab Spring, with a repressive government that responded by basically killing the protesters. It's not a genocide, it's a war, and there's a difference. Genocide is a preplanned attack on people because of who they are. This is a interstate conflict.” PeopleWarGovernmentDifferencesConflictSpringKillingCivil WarGenocideSyriaUprisingArab SpringInterstate Author:Susan Rice
“[Yahya Khan ] I have a big problem on my hands with him. I've set up a war commission to study the responsibilities inherent in the recent conflict.” WarProblemHandsBigsResponsibilityStudyConflictInherentBig Problems Author:Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
“Novels are usually built on conflict, sometimes very, very difficult conflict. It's why men write war novels - because there you go, there's the conflict writ large.” MenWritingWarSometimesDifficultNovelConflictBuiltWhy Me Author:Anna Quindlen
“The high level of the technologies used during the Gulf War makes this conflict quite unique, but the very process of de-realization of the war started in 1945. War occured in Kuwait, but it also occured on the screens of the entire world. The site of defeat or victory was not the ground, but the screen.” WorldWarUsedProcessLevelsTechnologyVictoryConflictUniqueDefeatScreensRealizationSiteHigh LevelGulf WarKuwait Author:Paul Virilio
“In this way, it seems to me that, since 1984, my book on the logistics of perception has been proved totally correct. For instance, almost every conflict since then has involved the logistics of perception, including the war in Lebanon, where Israel made use of cheap drones in order to track Yasser Arafat with the aim of killing him.” WayHas BeensMadeBookWarUseSeemsOrderInvolvedConflictPerceptionAimKillingIncludingTrackIsraelInstanceDronesLebanonLogisticsArafat Author:Paul Virilio
“The other person has wrong perceptions about himself and about us. And we have wrong perceptions about ourselves and the other person. And that is the foundation for violence and conflict and war.” PersonsWarViolenceConflictPerceptionFoundation Author:Nhat Hanh
“It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.” WarFactsHumanityPeaceSecurityConflictSecureUnfortunatePreparingPreparing For War Author:John F. Kennedy
“I am still covering conflict to some degree. I was back in Iraq. I've covered quite a bit of the Israel and Palestine. But I'm not doing it with the kind of intensity I was before and I'm not seeking out the front line and the kind danger that comes with being at the edge of the war the way I used to.” WayKindStillsWarUsedBitsLinesFrontsDangerConflictDegreesIraqEdgesSeekingIsraelCoveredIntensityPalestineCovering Author:Peter van Agtmael
“There are lots of signs that average Israelis want peace. But after such a long war - this conflict has been going on now for 120 years - you have a fifth generation being born into it on both sides. Such a conflict creates hatred, fears, stereotypes, and demonizations of the other. It would be an illusion to believe you can put an end to this overnight.” WantYearsBelieveLongHas BeensWarEndsWould BeSidesBornGenerationsConflictIllusionHatredAverageStereotypeBoth SidesFifthBelieve You Can Author:Uri Avnery
“Is war an inevitable outcome of competing interests in a complex society? In other words, would war be the same even if human nature were very different? There are mathematical models of large groups working together that lead to conflict on a reliable basis. So there's a whole other view of war that is not psychological at all.” IfsHumansDifferentWarWholeTogetherInterestViewsGroupsHuman NatureConflictModelsBasesComplexesPsychologicalMathematicalInevitableOutcomesWorking TogetherCompetingLarge GroupsMathematical Models Author:Jaron Lanier
“There are pros and cons about the policy decision whether to follow the Geneva Conventions in a war where they do not legally apply. Among the pros might be benefits for America's image, its ability to argue in future conflicts that the Conventions should be followed, and training soldiers to follow only the Geneva standards. Among the cons might be greater security and safety for our troops who capture and detain al Qaeda operatives and the ability to gather more actionable intelligence swiftly.” WarAbilityDecisionSecurityPolicyConflictTrainingSafetySoldierArguingAl QaedaOur Troops Author:John Yoo
“Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war in Afghanistan, unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.” WarConflictBreakupAfghanistanSoviet Author:Zbigniew Brzezinski
“I think war and armed conflict is always the last of all the options you have on the table. I think you try to avoid that at all costs. Sometimes it's unavoidable. That's the lesson of World War II. I think the other lesson of the last 50 or 60 years, however, is that, the stronger the U.S. military, the stronger our defense capabilities, the stronger the chances for peace are.” ThinkingWorldTryingWarSometimesChanceMilitaryConflictStrongerWar Of The WorldsWorld War IiCapabilityWorld War I Author:Marco Rubio
“The war in Iraq, specifically America's role of leadership in this war, is a painful invitation to ask ourselves what, if anything, we've learned from previous wars. I am revolted by the brutal killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent people during any war. And I'm saddened by the apparent inability of human beings to find less violent solutions to conflict and terrorism.” PeopleWarConflictSolutionsKillingPainfulTerrorismViolentInnocentWhat IfBrutalInvitationsSaddened Author:Wayne Dyer
“Europe is a rapidly changing place, on every level. Immigration, post-communist transitions, the unification, steady presence of war and conflict, the inescapable challenges to the notion of national literature/culture-it all exerts pressure upon writers who must be aware of the transformational possibilities of the situation.” WarLiteratureChallengesSituationPossibilityConflictImmigrationSteady Author:Aleksandar Hemon
“The religious conflicts of the Reformation era were never simply and only about religion, because religion during this era as in the Middle Ages that preceded it, informed and was meant to inform every domain of life. Violence involving religion and touching other areas of life took many forms: from the Protestant destruction of Catholic religious art and objects in iconoclasm, to Catholic executions of Protestants who refused to renounce their views, to major destructive conflicts such as the French Wars of Religion and the Thirty Years' War.” ArtWarAgeReligiousViolenceConflictDestructionCatholicTouchingMiddle Ages Author:Brad Stephan Gregory
“I grew up in the American South, the segregated South. Now we have a black man who is president. It was an age of apartheid, and now that's over. It was an age of two superpowers frozen in a cold war, and now that's resolved. So history marches on, except for this Arab-Israel conflict, which seems to have a claim on being eternal.” MenWarAgeBlackPresidentColdConflictOver ItMarchCold WarSuperpowerApartheid Author:Lawrence Wright
“Clashes of values and the struggle for primacy constitute a constant in human history that accounts for that other constant - conflict and war.” HumansWarValuesStruggleConflictAccountsConstantHuman HistoryClashPrimacy Author:Charles Krauthammer
“I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.” MenWarDreamYoungDiesPeaceViolenceMilitaryYouthBattleConflictEarsHistoricalSoldierYoung ManFedsOld ManAnti WarAntiwarWorld War ISenatorsPeace WarNo WarFed UpWorld War 1Just WarWar VeteranMilitary SoldierSoldiers At WarAnti War MovementWars And BattlesBlind Acceptance Author:George McGovern
“The truth is that I oppose the Iraq war, just as I opposed the Vietnam War, because these two conflicts have weakened the U.S. and diminished our standing in the world and our national security.” WorldTwoWarSecurityTruth IsConflictStandingIraqVietnamNational SecurityVietnam WarIraq WarInvading Iraq Author:George McGovern