Statements and catchphrases about the war of 1941-1945 by great people

Best Quotes

“I began to understand what people are capable of. Anyone who has gone through the war and does not understand that people create evil, just as a bee produces honey, is either blind or out of his mind.”

(William Golding. Quoted from the book: Golding, William // Nobel Prize Laureates: Encyclopedia)

“If everyone fought only according to their convictions, there would be no war.”

(Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace)

“- Is there no God? - No, my friend. Of course not. If he had, would he have allowed what I saw with my own eyes?

(Ernest Hemingway. For whom the bell tolls)

“Everyone in government power is obliged to avoid war, just as the captain of a ship avoids shipwreck.”

(Guy De Maupassant. Complete Works)

“War is barbaric when a peaceful neighbor is attacked, but it is a sacred duty when one defends the homeland.”

(Guy De Maupassant. Complete Works)

“Franco bombs Barcelona because, according to him, monks were brutally exterminated in Barcelona. Consequently, Franco defends Christian values. But a Christian, in the name of Christian values, stands in bombed Barcelona near a fire in which women and children are burning. And he refuses to understand. Meaning of life".

(Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Who are you, soldier)

“Of all the monstrously insane phenomena of the past, the war was, without a doubt, the craziest. Perhaps, in reality, it caused less harm than such a less noticeable evil as the universal recognition of private property in land, but the disastrous consequences of the war were so obvious that they were indignant at it even in those dark and troubled times. The wars of that time were completely meaningless.

Apart from the mass of killed and crippled people, apart from the destruction of enormous material wealth and the waste of countless units of energy, the wars did not bring any results.

The ancient wars of savage, barbarian tribes at least changed humanity; some tribe considered itself physically stronger and more organized, proved this to its neighbors and, if successful, took away their lands and women and thus consolidated and spread its power.

The new war did not change anything except the colors on geographical maps, the designs of postage stamps and the relationships between a few random individuals.”

(H.G. Wells. In the Days of the Comet)

“Permanent peace would be the same as constant war. War is peace."

(George Orwell. 1984)

“War is not just about who will shoot who. War is about who will change someone’s mind.”

(Boris Lvovich Vasiliev. And the dawns here are quiet...)

“I quickly began to become disillusioned with military affairs. My brothers in arms zealously polished their boots and participated in the exercises with great enthusiasm. I didn't see any point in this. They just turned us into fresh cannon fodder.”

(Charles Bukowski. Bread and Ham)

"When a war breaks out, people usually say, 'Well, this can't last, it's too stupid.' And indeed, war is indeed too stupid, which, however, does not prevent it from lasting a long time.”

(Albert Camus. Plague)

“As long as the earth revolves around the sun, as long as there is cold and heat, storm and sunlight, so long will there be struggle. Including among people and nations. If people stayed in paradise, they would rot. Humanity became what it is thanks to struggle. War is a natural and commonplace thing. War is going on always and everywhere. It has no beginning, no end. War is life itself. War is the starting point."

(Adolf Hitler. My struggle)

see also

• Quotes about Russia
• Quotes about the state
• Quotes about fatherland and homeland
• Quotes about people and nation
• Quotes about society
• Quotes about politics
• Russian proverbs and sayings

Wise Quotes

“Oh, human shame! Consent reigns

Among the damned demons, but a man -

A creature possessing consciousness creates discord with its own kind; Although he has the right to rely on the mercy of Heaven and knows the covenant of the Lord: to preserve eternal peace, he lives in hatred and enmity, Tribes devastate the Earth with merciless wars, bringing destruction to each other.”

(John Milton. Paradise Lost)

“War is a psychosis generated by someone’s inability to see the relationships between things. Our relationships with our neighbors. With economics, history. But above all, with nothing. With death."

(John Fowles. Magus)

“War and love, on Earth, are the two main items of trade. Since time immemorial, we have been releasing them in huge quantities.”

(Robert Sheckley. Pilgrimage to Earth)

“Anyone who has ever looked into the glassy eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think twice before starting a war.”

(Otto von Bismarck, speech, August 1867, Berlin)

“War is a disaster and a crime that contains all disasters and all crimes.”

(Voltaire. Quoted from the book: Kuznetsov V.N. Francois Marie Voltaire)

“We justify everything we do as a necessity. When we bomb cities, it is a strategic necessity, and when our cities are bombed, it is a heinous crime.”

(Erich Maria Remarque. A time to live and a time to die)

“Sergei’s hand did not waver. He knows that he will still kill, he, Sergei, knows how to love so tenderly, to keep friendship so tightly. He is not an evil guy, not cruel, but he knows that in bestial hatred, these soldiers sent by the world’s parasites, deceived and viciously incited, marched against their native republic. And he, Sergei, kills in order to bring closer the day when people on earth will not kill each other.”

(Nikolai Alekseevich Ostrovsky. How steel was hardened)

“War, Your Grace, is an empty game.

Today - success, and tomorrow - a hole...”

(Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky. Letter to General Z)

“History teaches that wars begin when governments believe that the cost of aggression is small.”

(Ronald Reagan)

“Perhaps the only reason wars arise again and again is that one can never fully feel how the other suffers.”

(Erich Maria Remarque. Return)

“Wars are never won, Charlie. Everyone does nothing but lose, and whoever loses last asks for peace.”

(Ray Bradbury. Dandelion Wine)

“Only a few, whose vile well-being depends on the people’s grief, make war.”

(Erasmus of Rotterdam. Quoted from the book: Aphorisms. Golden Fund of Wisdom. Eremishin O.)

“War is not a real feat, war is a surrogate for a feat. The basis of a feat is the wealth of connections it creates, the tasks it sets, the accomplishments it encourages. A simple game of heads or tails will not turn into a feat, even if the stake in it is life or death. War is not a heroic deed. War is a disease. Like typhus."

(Antoine Saint-Exupéry. Military pilot)

The beauty of peace and tranquility

Many quotes about peace describe the beauty of the peace and harmony that comes with it. It is in this call that the main message from all the sages of the past lies. Even after death, they tirelessly remind us that peace is much better than war, because it is the creator of progress and well-being of mankind.

• “The established peace is much better and more pleasant than the expected victory” (Livy).
• “The horror of war and the well-being of the world are so familiar to people that from the most ancient times, “peace be with you” is rightfully considered the best wish (Leo Tolstoy).
• “Peace, prosperity and friendship of peoples - that’s what we need to be happy” (Mark Twain).

Quotes about war

“The old men declare war, but the young go to die.”

(Herbert Hoover)

“War is a test of all the economic and organizational forces of every nation.”

(Vladimir Lenin)

We find in human nature three main causes of war: first, rivalry; secondly, mistrust; thirdly, a thirst for fame.

Thomas Hobbes

In war everything is simple, but the simplest things are extremely difficult.

Carl von Clausewitz

In war, everyone is equal in the likelihood of death.

G. Alexandrov

In war it is necessary to kill as many people as possible - this is the cynical logic of war.

Maksim Gorky

People exist only during war. In peacetime, this is a crowd of consumers.

R. Koval

It is just as useful for a people to fear war as it is for an individual to fear death.

Jules Renard

Violence is the essence of war. Moderation in war is unforgivable stupidity.

Thomas Babington Macaulay

The day will come when science will give birth to a machine or force so terrible, so infinitely terrifying, that even man - a warlike creature who brings down torment and death on others at the risk of suffering torment and death himself - will tremble with fear and forever renounce war.

Thomas Alva Edison

Preventing war is more difficult than winning a war.

K. Kushner

It is not true that war is a continuation of politics. She is her appendage, pathetic and helpless.

S. Lukyanenko

The injustice inherent in the first people is where the origins of war and the need to place bosses over themselves who would determine the rights of everyone and resolve all disputes.

Jean de La Bruyère

There is no great merit in taking a person's life. War is a vile business.

Nora Roberts

There is no vileness that war would not allow, there is no crime that would not be justified by it.

Maksim Gorky

Never fight one enemy for too long, otherwise he will adapt to your tactics.

Carl von Clausewitz

No one fights in war with such zeal as in the war for his native country.

Demosthenes

The same can be said about war as about a big game, which is preferred to a small game, even at the risk of going broke, because the big game arouses in us the hope of getting rich and promises to do this in an instant.

Claude Adrian Helvetius

The difference between war and the Olympic Games is that in war medals are most often awarded posthumously.

B. Krieger

Before the Battle of Thermopylae: “Have a heartier breakfast, Spartans, today we will have dinner in the next world.”

Tsar Leonidas

Just as the greatest physical evil is death, so the greatest moral evil is, of course, war.

Voltaire

As long as war is considered immoral, it will always have fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.

Oscar Wilde

A political leader who does not hesitate to plunge his people into war has no right to be a leader.

Golda Meir

After the massacre - victory; after victory - division; and then there are more winners than there were combatants. This is the custom of any war.

Honore de Balzac

After wars, as a rule, there is a surge of energy - among the victors because they won, among the vanquished - because they survived.

Peter Esterhazy

Content

• 1 About war 1.1 Pericles
• 1.2 Francis Bacon
• 1.3 Ivo Andric
• 1.4 William Pitt
• 1.5 Guy de Maupassant
• 1.6 Martin Luther
• 1.7 Napoleon I
• 1.8 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• 1.9 Antoine Rivarol
• 1.10 Niccolò Machiavelli
• 1.11 Bernard Shaw
• 1.12 Winston Churchill
• 1.13 Georges Clemenceau
• 1.14 Ambrose Bierce
• 1.15 Henri Barbusse
• 1.16 Ilya Ehrenburg
• 1.17 Vladimir Mayakovsky
• 1.18 Ivan Ilyin
• 1.19 Alexander Suvorov
• 1.20 Alfred Foulier
• 1.21 Napoleon III
• 1.22 Jeannette Rankin
• 1.23 From the preamble to the Constitution of UNESCO
• 1.24 Otto von Bismarck
• 1.25 Andre Malraux
• 1.26 Joseph de Maistre
• 1.27 Heinrich Heine
• 1.28 Marlene Dietrich
• 1.29 Baurzhan Toyshibekov
• 1.30 Aristotle
• 1.31 Thomas Hobbes
• 1.32 Georgy Alexandrov
• 1.33 Jules Renard
• 1.34 Konstantin Kushner
• 1.35 Demosthenes
• 1.36 Voltaire
• 1.37 Honore de Balzac
• 1.38 Boris Krieger
• 1.39 Elias Canetti
• 1.40 Emile de Girardin
• 1.41 Charles Montesquieu
• 1.42 John of Damascus
• 1.43 Gabriel Laub
• 1.44 Friedrich Schiller

B

Lack of leadership is bad, but multiple leadership is little better. This is the same polygamy

Words from Letters to Friends from a Campaign in Khiva (1839 – 1840) by Russian language researcher Vladimir Ivanovich Dal (1801 – 1872).

Safety in numbers (Defendit numerus)

It is easier for a group to defend against a threat than for one person (proverb).

God is always on the side of the big battalions

Words of the 17th century French marshal Jacques d'Etampes d'Etampes (1590 - 1668). Jacques d'Etampes was Marshal of France during the reign of Louis XIV (1638 – 1715).

God is on everyone's side... And ultimately, he is on the side of big money and big armies

Words by French playwright and screenwriter Jean Anouilh (1910 – 1987).

God created people, and Colt gave them equal rights

One of the first advertising slogans of the Colt Manufacturing company (founded in the mid-19th century, known in Russia as Colt), which produces firearms.

The fighter is sleeping - the service is underway

A saying about an approach to business when a person tries to work as little as possible.

The fighters remember bygone days and battles where they fought together

Quote from the poem “Song of the Prophetic Oleg” (1822) by the Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin (1799 – 1837).

The armor is strong and our tanks are fast

The first line from “March of the Tankers” (1938), written by composers brothers Dmitry and Daniil Pokrass to the words of the poet Boris Savelyevich Laskin (1914 - 1983) for the film “Tractor Drivers” (1938, director Ivan Pyryev).