World War Quotes

“A voice within me is sobbing, "You see that's what's become of you. You're surrounded by negative opinions, dismayed looks and mocking faces, people who dislike you, and all because you don't listen to the advice of your own better half." Believe me, I'd like to listen, but it doesn't work, because if I'm quiet and serious, everyone thinks I'm putting on a new act and I have to save myself with a joke, and then I'm not even talking about my own family, who assume I must be sick, stuff me with aspirins and setatives, feel my neck and forehead to see if I have a temperature, ask about my bowel movements and berate me for being in a bad mood, until I just can't keep it up anymore, because when everybody starts hovering over me, I get cross, then sad, an finally end up turning my heart inside out, the bad part on the outside and the good part on the inside, and keep trying to find a way to become what I'd like to be and what I could be if . . . if only there were no other people in the world.

Yours, Anne M. Frank.”
― Anne Frank

“In 1941, as the United States faced the threat of another horrific war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was leading the nation from a wheelchair. Struck down by polio at age thirty-nine, he rehabilitated and marshaled himself, despite severe pain, to press on with his career in politics. Eleven years later, delivering his message of confidence and optimism, he was elected President of the United States. ”
― Dale A. Jenkins, Diplomats & Admirals: From Failed Negotiations and Tragic Misjudgments to Powerful Leaders and Heroic Deeds, the Untold Story of the Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Midway

“The bittersweetness of uncertainty: To win or to lose.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“Unfortunately, much of the important information Ambassador Grew sent to Washington was largely overlooked or ignored, and dialogue between Washington and Tokyo was strained. This state of affairs is indicated by Grew’s cable on July 10, 1941, in which he pointed out that he had to go to the British ambassador in Tokyo, Sir Robert Craigie, to find out about discussions between the State Department and the Japanese ambassador in Washington. This occurred because the State Department kept the British ambassador in Washington abreast of events, who promptly informed the foreign secretary in London, who in turn informed their ambassador in Tokyo. Sir Robert then kindly passed the information to Ambassador Grew.”
― Dale A. Jenkins, Diplomats & Admirals: From Failed Negotiations and Tragic Misjudgments to Powerful Leaders and Heroic Deeds, the Untold Story of the Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Midway

“Kropp on the other hand is a thinker. He proposes that a declaration of war should be a kind of popular festival with entrance-tickets and bands, like a bull fight. Then in the arena the ministers and generals of the two countries, dressed in bathing-drawers and armed with clubs, can have it out on themselves. Whoever survives the country wins. That would be much simpler and more than just this arrangement, where the wrong people do the fighting”
― Enrich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front

“Lieutenant Linh said, “Thank you for this valuable information, it gives us an opportunity to take counter-measures to nullify the American attack! I have here, over a thousand young and inexperienced soldiers who are a bit fearful of the Americans. Our young soldiers are asking questions like, “Will an old carbine bullet kill a big American?” and “Would a bullet actually kill a big black American?” He went on to say, “I reassure them that their bullets will kill Americans if they strike at the right spot!” Later on, he was to say, “Four days later, the Americans came. We watched with heavy hearts as their helicopters endlessly were landing men.”
― Michael G. Kramer, A Gracious Enemy

“As for the new world war that's waiting in the womb of time, a healthily developed foetus, who can say what will spark it, how destructive it will be? We've already played at this war in film and fiction, indicating that there's a part of us that desperately wants it. What nonsense writers and filmmakers talk when they say that their terrible visions are meant as a warning. [...] It's sheer wish fulfillment. War... is a culture pattern. It's a legitimate mode of cultural transmission....”
― Anthony Burgess, 1985

“War is not just the shower of bullets and bombs from both sides, it is also the shower of blood and bones on both sides.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“Wie sinnlos ist alles, was je geschrieben, getan, gedacht wurde, wenn so etwas möglich ist! Es muß alles gelogen und belanglos sein, wenn die Kultur von Jahrtausenden nicht einmal verhindern konnte, daß diese Ströme von Blut vergossen wurden.”
― Erich Maria Remarque, Im Westen nichts Neues

“Clem ground out her cigarette and immediately wished she hadn’t. It had felt like something live she could hold onto”
― Lesley Glaister, Blasted Things

“Kamerad, ich wollte dich nicht töten. Sprängst du noch einmal hier hinein, ich täte es nicht, wenn auch du vernünftig wärest. Aber du warst mir vorher nur ein Gedanke, eine Kombination, die in meinem Gehirn lebte und einen Entschluß hervorrief - diese Kombination habe ich erstochen. Ich habe gedacht an deine Handgranaten, an dein Bajonett und deine Waffen - jetzt sehe ich deine Frau und dein Gesicht und das Gemeinsame. Vergib mir, Kamerad! Wir sehen es immer zu spät. Warum sagt man uns nicht immer wieder, daß ihr ebenso arme Hunde seid wie wir, daß eure Mütter sich ebenso ängstigen wie unsere und daß wir die gleiche Furch vor dem Tode haben und das gleiche Sterben und den gleichen Schmerz -. Vergib mir, Kamerad, wie konntest du mein Feind sein.”
― Erich Maria Remarque, Im Westen nichts Neues

“Was erwarten sie von uns, wenn eine Zeit kommt, wo kein Krieg ist? Jahre hindurch war unsere Beschäftigung Töten - es war unser erster Beruf im Dasein. Unser Wissen vom Leben beschränkt sich auf den Tod. Was soll danach noch geschehen? Und was soll aus uns werden?”
― Erich Maria Remarque, Im Westen nichts Neues

“Times will come when a man of peace must go to war to secure the peace.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“He was the first young man Alex had met since he arrived, all the others buried or missing, irretrievable. Then a few dragging steps and Alex saw why: a Goebbels clubfoot had kept him out of war.”
― Joseph Kanon, Leaving Berlin

“The action of forcing a conscientious objector to fight, in the name of peace or for gain, goes against their personal peace and can have unknown effects on the person and their surroundings.”
― Isabella Poretsis

“Everyone was saying that Europe, civilisation, the entire world was collapsing, that the century was destined to end in catastrophe, that everything would perish, drowned in blood. But she still hoped for a husband, a home, children, and she instinctively felt that the destruction of everything was a mirage, a lie, while she, she lived the truth.”
― Irène Némirovsky, The Fires of Autumn

“Die Stille ist die Ursache dafür, dass die Bilder des Früher nicht so sehr Wünsche erwecken als Trauer - eine ungeheure, fassungslose Schwermut. Sie waren - aber sie kehren nicht wieder. Sie sind vorbei, sie sind eine andere Welt, die für uns vorüber ist.”
― Erich Maria Remarque, Im Westen nichts Neues

“Ich bin nicht mehr ein zitterndes Stück Dasein allein im Dunkel - ich gehöre zu ihnen und sie zu mir, wir haben alle die gleiche Angst und das gleiche Leben, wir sind verbunden auf eine einfache und schwere Art. Ich möchte mein Gesicht in sie hineindrücken, in die Stimmen, diese paar Worte, die mich gerettet haben und die mir beistehen werden.”
― Erich Maria Remarque, Im Westen nichts Neues

“Granaten, Gasschwaden und Tankflottillen - Zerstampfen, Zerfressen, Tod.
Ruhr, Grippe, Typhus - Würgen, Verbrennen, Tod. Graben, Lazarett, Massengrab - mehr Möglichkeiten gibt es nicht.”
― Erich Maria Remarque, Im Westen nichts Neues

“Over a hundred years ago, we learned in a stupid little place that used to be called Vietnam that wars are absolutely useless for trying to change people. Who the fuck ever thought you could go to war to change people, as opposed to just obliterating them? Dumb as fuck. The only good think about wars is starting them. Because you sure as fuck can't win 'em anymore.”
― Andrew Smith, Rabbit and Robot

“Every civil war builds on illusions and fear
Even war between individuals; whatever bonds may exist between them

To recapitulate images from history: After the first
world war, exhaustion, victory, inability to
build a new order, growing dissolution, chaos Revanchism Economic depression Then the waiting
for Germany, the generalized war initiated by Germany
This dread waiting, 1938, 1939 When I was conceived
After the cold war another period of exhaustion, another victory Perhaps we are in the presence of generalized
civil war, internal division, hatred Should we prefer
the empire? As Dante did? Or Ezra Pound, Heidegger Or
for that matter Brecht? We love dissolution and chaos passionately,
I hear a voice say, I know whose It is not here that I shall say it
It is not easy There are no nations Pillars of fire precede
the returning, in human terms, lost son.”
― Göran Sonnevi, Mozart's Third Brain

“વ્યક્તિ કે સમાન વિચારધારા ધરાવતીઓ વ્યક્તિઓનો સમૂહ પોતાના વિચારો, માન્યતાઓ અન્યો પર થોપવા પ્રયત્ન કરે છે અને ત્યારે વિચાર-વિગ્રહ ઉત્પન્ન થાય છે અને એમાંથી મોટા યુદ્ધો થાય છે. અને યાદ રાખજો કે ત્રીજું વિશ્વ-યુદ્ધ પોતાની બિનતાર્કિક માન્યતાઓ દુનિયા પર થોપી બેસાડવાના કારણે થશે.”
― Jayesh Nilam Shah

“World War 3 is coming your way, stay alert.”
― Santosh Kumar (San)

“Despair is the one thing that brings chaos to this world. Just like a single bullet setting off a world war, despair has the power to throw this world into chaos! Look at me now! I'm having so much fun! Even now, I'm filled with despair and excitement!”
― Kazutaka Kodaka

“Racism will continue to thrive until we see and threat ourselves as humans. Black people stuck in Ukraine are being subjected to racism even as they attempt to flee to safety in Poland during a time of war. Black people are treated with complete and utter contempt by white supremacists all over the world. We should all be condemning this barbaric act.”
― Olawale Daniel

“When I was doing the research for Fall of Giants, I was shocked to realize that the First World War was a war that nobody wanted. No European leader on either side intended for it to happen. But the emperors and prime ministers, one by one, made decisions –logical, moderate decisions –each of which took us a small step closer to the most terrible conflict the world had ever known. I came to believe that it was all a tragic accident. And I wondered: Could that happen again?”
― Ken Follett, Never

“Men of war will only be tamed by men of peace who will rise to war out of their hatred for it.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Men of war will always create narratives that serve to justify the unjustifiable horrors of terror unleashed. And a man of peace will know that to argue the narrative is to further feed that narrative in the minds of those who created it, thereby heightening the horrors that those narratives justify. Therefore, a man of peace must destroy the narrative by utilizing the very horrors that they justify.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“I believe sooner or later there will be a world war that will affect many nations because you can't manipulate so many resources and wealth on the planet without serious consequences. This monopoly and horrible discrimination rooted on greed will have to end some day.”
― Dan Desmarques

“1. DÜNYA ŞİİR SAVAŞI

Zaten savaşıyorum ben her gece
Önce elçisini yolluyor her hece
Eğer çekmezsem teslim bayrağını
Saldırıya geçiyor şiirin kıtaları
Bir kere olmaya gör dizelere esir
Her gün ölmek bile etmiyor tesir
Düşman sayısı değil ki bir
Gökkuşağında bile bir kibir
Kelimeleri değil renkleri kullanıyor
Bu yüzden çok iyi şiir yazıyor
Söyleyin o renk curcunasına
Kelimelerle çıksın karşıma
Hazırım ben vallaha
Birinci dünya şiir savaşına”
― Tarık Alptekin, Âlem Olan Kelimeler