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Pacifist Quotes

Browse 179 quotes about Pacifist.

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Pacifist Quotes

“I will not call myself a pacifist for the very simple reason that if something like a [Francisco] Franco should arise in Spain again, or, for that matter, in America, and tried to take away whatever dwindling civil liberties and human rights we retain, I would resist them with a club if I had to. But my admiration for pacifism as an outlook and a sensibility is enormous. I just find that it gets me into contradictions, as it often gets many pacifists into contradictory positions and strategies.”

IfsShouldHumansMatterReasonAmericaSimpleLibertyRightsPositionStrategyHuman RightsClubsEnormousAriseContradictionAdmirationSensibilitySpainOutlookContradictoryCivil LibertiesPacifistPacifismFrancoFrancisco Franco
Author:Murray Bookchin
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“Sadly and criminally, many self-indulgent inactive pacifists have shunned me for being an outspoken supporter of X's 'by any means necessary' philosophy, even though NOT supporting me means you are supporting violence since millions of meat, dairy, egg and honey-eaters who would have had a chance to see my speeches, essays or advertisements continue along their violent paths unchallenged.”

MeanSelfPhilosophyChanceMillionsPathViolenceSpeechViolentMeatEggsHoneySupporterEssaysAdvertisementsPacifistDairyOutspokenSelf Indulgent
Author:Gary Yourofsky
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“When people want to inspire you to turn against some group of people, they'll often use empathy. When Obama wanted to bomb Syria, he drew our attention to the victims of chemical warfare. And in both of the Iraq wars, politicians said, "Look at the horrific things that are happening." I'm not a pacifist. I think the suffering of innocent people can be a catalyst for moral action. But empathy puts too much weight on the scale in favor of war. Empathy can really lead to violence.”

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Author:Paul Bloom
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“Stop it," spluttered Eustace, "go away. Put that thing away. It's not safe. Stop it, I say. I'll tell Caspian. I'll have you muzzled and tied up." "Why do you not draw your own sword, poltroon!" cheeped the Mouse. "Draw and fight or I'll beat you black and blue with the flat." "I haven't got one," said Eustace. "I'm a pacifist. I don't believe in fighting." "Do I understand," said Reepicheep, withdrawing his sword for a moment and speaking very sternly, "that you do not intend to give me satisfaction?”

GivingBelieveSaidMomentsFightingBlackHavensSafeBeatsDrawsGive MeBlueDon't BelieveSatisfactionFlatsGoing AwayTiedMicePacifistTied UpWithdrawingReepicheep
Book:The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Enhanced Edition)
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“The Bible is clear here: I am to love my neighbor as myself, in the manner needed, in a practical way, in the midst of the fallen world, at my particular point of history. This is why I am not a pacifist. Pacifism in this poor world in which we live -- this lost world -- means that we desert the people who need our greatest help.”

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Author:Francis Schaeffer
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“Thomas Jefferson once said: 'Of course the people don't want war. But the people can be brought to the bidding of their leader. All you have to do is tell them they're being attacked and denounce the pacifists for somehow a lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.' I think that was Jefferson. Oh wait. That was Hermann Goering. Shoot." [Hosting the Peabody Awards for broadcasting excellence at the New York Waldorf-Astoria, June 6, 2006]”

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Author:Jon Stewart
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“The necessary consequence of man's right to life is his right to self-defense. In a civilized society, force may be used only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use. All the reasons which make the initiation of physical force an evil, make the retaliatory use of physical force a moral imperative. If some "pacifist" society renounced the retaliatory use of force, it would be left helplessly at the mercy of the first thug who decided to be immoral. Such a society would achieve the opposite of its intention: instead of abolishing evil, it would encourage and reward it.”

IfsMenFirstsMaySelfReasonUseWould BeLife IsUsedEvilLeftForceMoralAchieveConsequenceDecidedMercyOppositesIntentionRewardsDefenseCivilizedImmoralImperativesSelf DefenseThugPacifistInitiateInitiationCivilized SocietyRight To LifeRetaliationUse Of ForcePhysical Force
Author:Ayn Rand
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“So it is not an accident that the Nazi lads vent a particular fury against (Einstein). He does truly stand for what they most dislike, the opposite of the blond beast intellectualist, individualist, supernationalist, pacifist, inky, plump... How should they know the glory of the free-ranging intellect and soft objective sympathy to whom money and violence, drink and blood and pomp, mean absolutely nothing?”

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Author:John Maynard Keynes
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“I hate the world and almost all the people in it. I hate the Labour Congress and the journalists who send men to be slaughtered, and the fathers who feel a smug pride when their sons are killed, and even the pacifists who keep saying human nature is essentially good, in spite of all the daily proofs to the contrary. I hate the planet and the human race—I am ashamed to belong to such a species.”

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Book:Autobiography
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“Principles are what people have instead of God. To be a Christian means among other things to be willing if necessary to sacrifice even your highest principles for God's or your neighbour's sake the way a Christian pacifist must be willing to pick up a baseball bat if there's no other way to stop a man from savagely beating a child. Jesus didn't forgive his executioners on principle but because in some unimaginable way he was able to love them. 'Principle' is an even duller word than 'Religion'.”

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Author:Frederick Buechner
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“The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders...tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.”

PeopleWarCountryPoliticalPeaceFreedomLeaderHistoryDangerHuman RightsTrialsPropagandaNew WorldAnti WarAntiwarRulersDictatorshipNaziVietnam WarFreedom And LibertyFascistsNew World OrderWorld OrderPeace WarPolitical PowerDemocracies HaveExposingPacifistPeacemakingPeacemakerPacifismHuman FreedomMake Peace Not WarPolitical LifeRights And FreedomsNwoBiddingPolitical FreedomMedia ManipulationDemocracy FreedomPoliticians And PoliticsLiberty And EqualityGoeringPolitics FunnyNurembergDemocracy And Human RightsMedia PropagandaWar PropagandaPatriotism And WarPolitics And WarEngland And AmericaNuremberg TrialsWar Of 1812Communist Leaders
Author:Hermann Goring
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“Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”

PeopleWantWarCountryMatterPoliticalReligionPoliticsEasyPeaceVoiceSimpleCommonLeaderDemocracyMilitaryDangerPolicyHuman RightsDetermineTrialsPropagandaCommunistNew WorldDragDictatorshipPatriotNaziParliamentVietnam WarFreedom And LibertyFascistsNew World OrderWorld OrderPolitical PowerDemocracies HaveExposingNo WarPacifistConspiracy TheoryPeacemakerPacifismHuman FreedomRights And FreedomsNwoBiddingReligion And PoliticsPolitical FreedomMedia ManipulationFree ThoughtPolitical IdeologyDemocracy FreedomCommon EnemyGoeringReligion PoliticsHistorical MilitaryDemocracy And Human RightsMedia PropagandaWar PropagandaPatriotism And WarPolitics And WarEngland And AmericaWar Of 1812Communist Leaders
Author:Hermann Goring
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“I always have a high regard for the individual and have an insuperable distaste for violence and clubmanship. All these motives made me into a passionate pacifist and anti-militarist. I am against any nationalism, even in the guise of mere patriotism. Privileges based on position and property have always seemed to me unjust and pernicious, as did any exaggerated personality cult.”

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Author:Albert Einstein
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“If you take guns away from legal gun owners then the only people who would have guns would be the bad guys. Even a pacifist would get violent if someone were trying to kill him or her. You would fight for your life, whatever your beliefs. You'd use a rock or tear one of these chairs out of the floor. Hey, maybe I've been watching too many Bruce Willis movies!”

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Author:Bruce Willis
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“When are we left-wingers going to learn that we are losing the cultural and political battle with conservatives because we are fractured into narcissistic special-interest groups? Why should an antiwar protestor be so concerned about her dietary identity? The political opinions of vegetarians and meat-eaters are, after all, equally important. And what does it tell us about vegetarians that it would never occur to meat-eaters to carry a sign that reads "Pacifist Pork Chop Lover for Peace" or "Backyard Rib Barbecuer for International Nuclear Disarmament"?”

ShouldDoeImportantPoliticalLeftInterestOpinionGroupsSpecialIdentityLoversBattleLosingConcernedUnityInternationalNuclearMeatVegetarianAntiwarNarcissisticDisarmamentSpecial InterestsBackyardsRibsPorkPacifistInterest GroupsNuclear DisarmamentPolitical OpinionsSpecial Interest GroupsPork Chops
Author:Sherman Alexie
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