100 Quotes About Warfare

“War is the province of the young, and those who have not experienced it can scarcely be said to know what they would wish it to be.” – George Bernard Shaw From the early days of civilization, men have been fighting for their beliefs and for their right to live. Whether you’re a soldier fighting for your country, a guerrilla fighting for freedom, or a freedom fighter fighting for freedom from oppression, these quotes about war will inspire you to join in on the fight.

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If you want to bring the world closer to peace, be a peacemaker by creating peace whenever you can. If you find yourself engaged in an argument that only stirs anger in the heart, quickly make peace and carry on. Suzy Kassem
In war, the first casualty is truth.
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In war, the first casualty is truth. Terry Hayes
If we need help, we must cry to the Most...
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If we need help, we must cry to the Most High God. Lailah Gifty Akita
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Nobility is a lie. A pretence that high standing comes from anything more than money or martial prowess. Any dolt can play the noble, and as you'll discover in time, daughter, it's mostly dolts who do. Anthony Ryan
Praying is pleasing to God.
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Praying is pleasing to God. Lailah Gifty Akita
In a world gushing blood day and night, you never...
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In a world gushing blood day and night, you never stop mopping up pain. Aberjhani
Only when we pray for one another, we will have...
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Only when we pray for one another, we will have peace. Lailah Gifty Akita
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Fight ever on: this earthly stuff If used God’s way will be enough. Face to the firing line o friend Fight out life’s battle to the end. One soldier, when the fight was red, Threw down his broken sword and fled. Another snatched it, won the day, With what his comrade flung away. Edwin Markham
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Through love, tribes have been intermixing colors to reveal a new rainbow world. And as more time passes, this racial and cultural blending will make it harder for humans to side with one race, nation or religion over another. Suzy Kassem
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That's what you get, ' he said, nodding towards a group of the men engaged in some close-order military drill, 'when you give people Bibles and guns. You should give 'em either one or the other, but not both. It just messes up their brains. K.W. Jeter
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After the dinosaurs, it is us the humans that have become the dominant species on planet earth. However, unlike the dinosaurs, we have become the rulers of this planet not by ferociousness, but by intelligence, even though we are no less ferociousness than them. Abhijit Naskar
The sweetness of prayer is the prosperity of the soul.
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The sweetness of prayer is the prosperity of the soul. Lailah Gifty Akita
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A woman's body is a sacred temple. A work of art, and a life-giving vessel. And once she becomes a mother, her body serves as a medicine cabinet for her infant. From her milk she can nourish and heal her own child from a variety of ailments. And though women come in a wide assortment as vast as the many different types of flowers and birds, she is to reflect divinity in her essence, care and wisdom. God created a woman's heart to be a river of love, not to become a killing machine. Suzy Kassem
All Welsh knew was that he was scared shitless, and...
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All Welsh knew was that he was scared shitless, and at the same time was afflicted with a choking gorge of anger that any social coercion existed in the world which could force him to be here. James Jones
The more we're thrown into conflict with each other through...
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The more we're thrown into conflict with each other through engineered distrust, the less able we are to unite against those responsible. DaShanne Stokes
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All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Sun Tzu
It is well that war is so terrible, or we...
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It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it. Robert E. Lee
The enemies of your enemies are not always your friends,...
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The enemies of your enemies are not always your friends, but they can still be useful. James D. Sass
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What passing bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifle's rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers, nor bells, Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, The shrill demented choirs of wailing shells, And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candles may be held to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes, Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall, Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each, slow dusk a drawing down of blinds. Wilfred Owen
...the world was trying to change its old face and...
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...the world was trying to change its old face and show its underbelly of earth and roots. Italo Calvino
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His men had begun gathering the wounded or stunned into a small group some distance back up the slope. Here and there an animal or human stirred, but not many. There were few cries of pain or fear now. Mostly, it was eerily quiet. Even the insects had ceased their music. Derek Donais
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[W]e are hardened to what we know, and we rationalise and even justify cruelties practised by us and our like while retaining the capacity to be outraged, even disgusted by practices equally cruel which, under the hands of strangers, take a different form. John Keegan
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As long as a person is involved with warfare, trying to defend or attack, then his action is not sacred; it is mundane, dualistic, a battlefield situation. Unknown
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Modern warfare wasn't supposed to have this much blood in it. The weapons were supposed to cook everyone neatly, like eggs in their shells. (Mark Vorkosigan's first experience with warfare, on seeing Miles Vorkosigan splattered before him) Lois McMaster Bujold
The holy war is only within.
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The holy war is only within. Lailah Gifty Akita
The word is my weapon. FIRE!
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The word is my weapon. FIRE! Ljupka Cvetanova
People turned against each other cannot turn against those responsible.
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People turned against each other cannot turn against those responsible. DaShanne Stokes
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At dawn, they call in a napalm airplane, but it drop the shit damn near right on top of us. Our own fellers be all signed and burnt up - come running out into the open, eyes big as biscuits, everybody cussing and sweating and scared, woods set on fire, damn near put the rain out! Winston Groom
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After a while, they start landing some relief in helicopters, and I guess the napalm bomb have frightened away the gooks. They must of figured that if we was willing to do that to ourselves, then what the hell would we of done to them? They taking the wounded out of there, when along come Sergeant Kranz, hair all singed off, clothes burnt up, looking like he just got shot out of a cannon. Winston Groom
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There was some people hurt far worst than I was in that hospital, let me tell you. Poor old boys with arms and legs and hands and who knows what else missing. Boys what had been shot in their stomach and chests and faces. At night the place sound like a torture chamber - them fellers be howling and crying and calling for their mamas. Winston Groom
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There was a guy next to my cot name of Dan, who had been blowed up inside a tank. He was all burnt and had tubes going in and out of him everyplace, but I never heard him holler. He talk real low and quiet, and after a day or so, him and me got to be friends. Dan came from the state of Connecticut, and he was a teacher of history when they grabbed him up and threw him into the Army. But because he was smart, they sent him to officer school and made him a lieutenant. Most of the lieutenants I know were about as simple minded as me, but Dan was different. He had his own philosophy about why we were here, which was that we were doing maybe the wrong thing for the right reasons, or vice-versa, but whatever it is, we ain't doing it right. Him being a tank officer and all, he say it ridiculous for us to be waging a war in a place where we can't hardly use our tanks on account of the land is mostly swamp or mountains. I told him about Bubba and all, and he nod his head very sadly and said there will be a lot more Bubbas to die before this thing is over. Winston Groom
Bullets an stuff be flying all over. It is something...
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Bullets an stuff be flying all over. It is something I simply cannot understand - why in hell is we doing all this, anyway? Playing football is one thing. But this, I do not know why. Goddamn. Winston Groom
Battle is gruesome, but it is vigorous, alive. The aftermath...
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Battle is gruesome, but it is vigorous, alive. The aftermath is the worst of it: adrenaline fades, quiet sweeps in, and there’s nothing to distract you from the mess of bodies and disturbed earth. Darrell Drake
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Every war has its martyrs – the unsung heroes who sometimes don’t even know the rationale behind the war they are fighting. They fight because they are trained to, kill because they are told to and die because they are destined to. Anurag Shourie
There is a relentless war between good and evil which...
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There is a relentless war between good and evil which has to be fought whether one likes it or not. Radhika Mundra
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I dispute the point that nuclear energy is 'clean' and 'cost-effective'. As I recall, when we first harnessed nuclear power it was to drop an atom bomb on a civilian population, not to save the environment. However, you must admit, the victors are never tried for war crimes. E.a. Bucchianeri
When the bombs fell, it wasn't a war; it was...
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When the bombs fell, it wasn't a war; it was an obliteration. No one had any idea who shot first or why. Joe Reyes
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Governments predicate the call for war upon very terrible lies: that it will restrain evil men, make honest and courageous men out of boys, and the outcome depends upon the moral virtuousness of the combatants. Warfare is obscene, an evil waste of life, and a destroyer of civilization. Society can salvage no virtue or rectitude from the larger waste of destroying cities and killing people. There is no moral message deduced from warfare. All warfare is barbaric and inhuman. Kilroy J. Oldster
Condemning war has not curbed armed conflict. Religion and education...
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Condemning war has not curbed armed conflict. Religion and education did not eliminate war. Warfare did not terminate more wars. Armed combat simply breeds endless wars. Kilroy J. Oldster
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War provides some people with a sense of purposefulness. The drumbeat of war quickens the pulse of neighbors, relatives, tribes, and nations. Hostile nations amass weapons of destruction claiming that they seek peace through deterrence. When war comes, advocates of arms galvanize the citizenry by proclaiming the inevitability of conflict. Each side’s propaganda machine cast the campaign of present war as the next Great War. Generals brashly promote armed conflict as the war to end all other wars. Saber-rattlers proclaim that the opposition’s militant disciples instituted this ordeal of conquest and destruction. . Kilroy J. Oldster
… as General Berringer would readily admit, “If you’re in...
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… as General Berringer would readily admit, “If you’re in a fair fight, I’ve done something wrong. T. Mountebank
With God, anything that stands against you will always be...
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With God, anything that stands against you will always be inferior to what resides within you. Craig D. Lounsbrough
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The outcome of battle is never in a warrior’s control. What is in his control is how he chooses to fight and what he chooses to fight for. Today, I choose to fight to keep the Anartas and Sindhuvarta free of the invaders — and I choose to fight such that the enemy will speak of me in their legends for generations to come. Shatrujeet Nath
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If you aren't destroying your enemies, it's because you have been conquered and assimilated, you do not even have an idea of who your enemies are. You have been brainwashed into believing you are your own enemy, and you are set against yourself. The enemy is laughing at you as you tear yourself to pieces. That is the most effective warfare an enemy can launch on his foes: confounding them. Bangambiki Habyarimana
What is life but an ongoing war?
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What is life but an ongoing war? Bangambiki Habyarimana
If we go to war, it must only be with...
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If we go to war, it must only be with right on our side. Aleksandra Layland
Defeating the enemy through deception with little loss of life...
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Defeating the enemy through deception with little loss of life is better than fighting face-to-face with the loss of many lives on both sides. Aleksandra Layland
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Here is what you do, friends. Forget country. Forget king. Forget wife and children and freedom. Forget every concept, however noble, that you imagine you fight for here today. Act for this alone: for the man who stands at your shoulder. He is everything, and everything is contained within him. That is all I know. That is all I can tell you.-- Dienekes at Thermopylae Steven Pressfield
The holy war is warfare.
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The holy war is warfare. Lailah Gifty Akita
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In conclusion, the arms of others either fall from your back, or they weigh you down, or they bind you fast. Unknown
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Nonviolent action on behalf of justice is no automatic forumla with promise of success: but neither is war. After all, at least half of the people who go to war for some cause deemed worthy of it are defeated. John Howard Yoder
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If the tradition which claims that war may be justified does not also admit that it could be unjustified, the affirmation is not morally serious. A Christian who prepares the case for a justified war without being equally prepared for hte negative case has not soberly weighted the prima facie presumption that any violence is wrong until the case for an exception has been made. John Howard Yoder
As politicians know all too well, even a Government that...
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As politicians know all too well, even a Government that does not represent the wishes of a people can count on their support once the nation is locked in conflict with an external foe. Elisabeth Hoemberg
Guns neither initiated nor enabled larger changes. Economic, political, and...
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Guns neither initiated nor enabled larger changes. Economic, political, and social development preceded and laid the foundation for the invention and use of the gun, not the other way around. Peter A. Lorge
Refusal to engage in spiritual warfare does not exempt you...
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Refusal to engage in spiritual warfare does not exempt you from being among the next casualties of war Steven Chuks Nwaokeke
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Colonization of the world, more often than not by robbery and warfare, spread Christianity into the Americas and other corners of the earth, just as Islam was spread throughout Asia and Africa. lt is not a coincidence that the two most widespread religions in the world today are the most warlike and intolerant religions in history. Before the rise of Christianity, religious tolerance, including a large degree of religious freedom, was not only custom but in many ways law under the Roman and Persian empires. They conquered for greed and power, rarely for any declared religious reasons, and actually sought to integrate foreign religions into their civilization, rather than seeking to destroy them. People were generally not killed because they practiced a different religion. Indeed, the Christians were persecuted for denying that the popular gods existed – not for following a different religion. In other words, Christians were persecuted for being intolerant. . Richard C. Carrier
As bronze may be much beautified by lying in the...
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As bronze may be much beautified by lying in the dark damp soil, so men who fade in dust of warfare fade fairer, and sorrow blooms their soul. Wilfred Owen
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No less a bold and pugnacious figure than Winston Churchill broke down and was unable to finish his remarks at the sendoff of the British Expeditionary Force into the maelstrom of World War I in Europe. Barbara W. Tuchman
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The warrior of the night knows the sacredness of warfare. Lailah Gifty Akita
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Judgement is always based on experience and sometimes you will battle a person's history first, before commonsense will ever win the war. Shannon L. Alder
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They taught the women that the home is a shame and in doing so, they successfully decomposed nations. Instead of it being the greatest honour to build a family, it became a laughingstock. And in this becoming, they successfully deconstructed nations. They taught the men that loyalty is merely an option and in doing so, they successfully destroyed nations. Instead of it being the greatest pride to love one woman, it became a joke, a funny side comment. And in this becoming, they successfully poisoned nations. Your home is your atom, your cell, your genome. Your love is your honour, your word, your truth. You wonder why we live in deconstructed nations, you ask one another why you live on torn fibres, cracked ground, and yet you continue to listen to what they tell you. You have put shame where there should be a throne, you have placed a joke where there should be a crown. You have successfully destroyed your nations. C. Joybell C.
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The school remained open. I thanked Allah that the Americans operated differently. Had the Lebanese lost 241 men in one day, and had we the power and the reach, we would have American males hung from their testicles and set on fire. The frame of mind that dictates our actions quashes our ability to develop the power and reach exhibited by the Americans, I thought. Sam Wazan
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Keep encouraging one another with affectionate love. Lailah Gifty Akita
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....harmony that would fittingly imitate the utterances and accents of a brave man who is engaged in warfare or in any enforced business, and who, when he has failed […] confronts fortune with steadfast endurance and repels her strokes Plato
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The heart beneath the breastbone pumping. The blood on its appointed rounds. Life in small places, narrow crannies. In the leaves, the toad's pulse. The delicate cellular warfare in a waterdrop. A dextrocardiac, said the smiling doctor. Your heart's in the right place. Weathershrunk and loveless. The skin drawn and split like an overripe fruit. Cormac McCarthy
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May the resurrection power of Christ, awake in us a greater spiritual force and strength, so that we can passionately pursue our God-given dreams. Lailah Gifty Akita
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With the grace of prayer, we shall prevail. Lailah Gifty
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It is our responsibility to pray for a peaceful world. Lailah Gifty Akita
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Pray regularly for the members of your family. Lailah Gifty Akita
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Two great prayers; Yahweh, grant me grace for my daily activities. Yahweh, protect me from all evil, so that my life will be free of pain in Jesus name. Amen! Lailah Gifty Akita
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The power of the Blood of Jesus, the Word of God & the name of Jesus are the believers weapons of defense against the Devil. Pazaria Smith
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…having once seen him put forth his strength in battle, methinks I could know him again among a thousand warriors. He rushes into the fray as if he were summoned to a banquet. There is more than mere strength--there seems as if the whole soul and spirit of the champion were given to every blow which he deals upon his enemies. God assoilzie him of the sin of bloodshed! It is fearful, yet magnificent, to behold how the arm and heart of one man can triumph over hundreds. . Walter Scott
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The missile crisis "was the most dangerous moment in human history, " Arthur Schlesinger commented in October 2002 at a conference in Havana on the fortieth anniversary of the crisis, attended by a number of those who witnessed it from within as it unfolded. Desision-makers at the time undoubtedly understood that the fate of the world was in their hands. Nevertheless, attendees at the conference may have been shocked by some of the revelations. They were informed that in October 1962 the world was "one word away" from nuclear war. "A guy named Arkhipov saved the world, " said Thomas Blanton of the National Security Archive in Washington, which helped organize the event. He was referring to Vasil Arkhipov, a Soviet submarine officer blocked an order to fire nuclear-armed toredoes in October 27, at the tensest moment of the crisis, when te submarines were under attack bu US destroyers, A devastating response would have been a near certainty, leading a major war. Pg 74, Penguin Publication. Noam Chomsky
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Potential enemies make the best friends and lovers. Many a blessed union begins in adversity. Randy Thornhorn
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Hope is the assurance of positive expectations. Lailah Gifty Akita
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Corporate terrorism is psychological warfare. Corporate terrorists try to manipulate us and change our behavior by creating fear, uncertainty, and division in society. Steven Magee
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You should never consider finished a war you did not win Bangambiki Habyarimana
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Sure we could replace war with paintball battles. But it would escalate to paint grenades, paint bombs, weapons of mass paint. I don’t want to live in a world where my kids have to worry about what color they will be in the morning. Dan Florence
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You see, it doesn't matter if they're wrong. From 9/11 to recent shootings here in the United States, there's nothing more dangerous than a true believer on his own crazy mission. Brad Meltzer
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A life of prayer is a praise of being. Lailah Gifty Akita
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Life is a war. Guerrilla warfare, the strategy Bangambiki Habyarimana
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Seek grace and manna daily. Lailah Gifty Akita
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Let us also acknowledge that the hearts which suffer the most from our wars are those of mothers. Their vital voices have been left out of the political equation for too long. An Iraqi or American mother cries the same as an Israeli or Afghan mother. The eyes of a mother who has suffered the loss of a child can destroy the soul of anyone who gazes upon them. More souls become casualties of war than physical bodies. War is a soul-shattering experience for the innocent. Suzy Kassem
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They torture us but could not kill our spirit. We have greater divine power, guiding and protecting us. Lailah Gifty Akita
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(Evil people) do not believe in forgiveness. Their transgressions are either punished or not punished. That is the only result that matters. Daniel McHugh
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A man without equals is a dangerous man indeed. He must exercise the most difficult of attributes, restraint. Daniel McHugh
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Why all this death? You might as easily ask ‘Why all this life?’. Daniel McHugh
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Those of strong character and training are chosen by fate. They cannot help but rise to the forefront when their nations are troubled. Daniel McHugh
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Spiritual warfare is the unseen battle God wages on your behalf. Jim George
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Bullets do not discriminate. They are equal-opportunity projectiles. Peter Duysings
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Don't let 'em see they killed you! Henry V. ONeil
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Do not let fear and anger conquer you. You must conquer them. If you don’t, you give your enemy all power over you, and you will never overcome him. Anger uncontrolled flames up fast and hot, and even though you direct this fire at your foe, it is you it burns. Hamiel Sandra Kopp
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The Fukushima nuclear complex went on to become the worst man-made engineering disaster in all of human history, outside of war. Steven Magee
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People generally don’t suffer high rates of PTSD after natural disasters. Instead, people suffer from PTSD after moral atrocities. Soldiers who’ve endured the depraved world of combat experience their own symptoms. Trauma is an expulsive cataclysm of the soul. The Moral Injury, New York Times. Feb 17, 2015 David Brooks
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Lovers and warriors are not bound by the rules of fair play. Wayne Gerard Trotman
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This revolutionary idea of Western citizenship–replete with ever more rights and responsibilities–would provide superb manpower for growing legions and a legal framework that would guarantee that the men who fought felt that they themselves in a formal and contractual sense had ratified the conditions of their own battle service. The ancient Western world would soon come to define itself by culture rather than by race, skin color, or language. That idea alone would eventually bring enormous advantages to its armies on the battlefield. (p. 122) . Victor Davis Hanson
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I sometimes try to imagine what would have happened if we’d known the bonobo first and the chimpanzee only later–or not at all. The discussion about human evolution might not revolve as much around violence, warfare and male dominance, but rather around sexuality, empathy, caring and cooperation. What a different intellectual landscape we would occupy! Frans De Waal
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As a revolutionary people, we Americans won a probable victory over the best and biggest army in the world because we learned to fight from the Indians. You can do a lot of damage with a Kentucky rifle from behind a tree. You don't put on a peaked hat and a red coat and white leggings and crossed white bandoleers with a big silver buckle in the center of the X and march uphill into a line of Howitzers loaded with chain and chopped horseshoes. James Lee Burke
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He had conquered murder only to be faced with war. There were no laws for that. T.h. White