As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy.
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but theopportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.
From the happy expression on their faces you might have supposed that they welcomed the war. I have met with men who loved stamps, and stones, and snakes, but I could not imagine any man loving war.
To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.
All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.
War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.
Even the finest sword plunged into salt water will eventually rust.
There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men.
Never was anything great achieved without danger
There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.
Occasionally the tree of Liberty must be watered with the blood of Patriots and Tyrants.
There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for.
Do not let us speak of darker days; let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days: these are great days - the greatest days our country has ever lived.
Brutality to an animal is cruelty to mankind - it is only the difference in the victim.
There was never a bad peace or a good war.
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing uptheir numbers.
War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.
