A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.

A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.

We have war when at least one of the parties to a conflict wants something more than it wants peace.

We have war when at least one of the parties to a conflict wants something more than it wants peace.

I have never advocated war except as a means of peace.

I have never advocated war except as a means of peace.

If war should sweep our commerce from the seas, another generation will restore it. If war exhausts our treasury, future read more

If war should sweep our commerce from the seas, another generation will restore it. If war exhausts our treasury, future industry will replenish it. If war desiccate and lay waste our fields, under new cultivation they will grow green again and ripen to future harvest. If the walls of yonder Capitol should fall and its decorations be covered by the dust of battle, all these can be rebuilt. But who shall reconstruct the fabric of a demolished government; who shall dwell in the well-proportioned columns of constitutional liberty; who shall frame together the skillful architecture which unites sovereignty with state's rights, individual security with prosperity?

Let who will boast their courage in the field,
I find but little safety from my shield,
read more

Let who will boast their courage in the field,
I find but little safety from my shield,
Nature's, not honour's law we must obey:
This made me cast my useless shield away.

The bomb that fell on Hiroshima fell on America too. It fell on no city, no munition plants, no docks. read more

The bomb that fell on Hiroshima fell on America too. It fell on no city, no munition plants, no docks. It erased no church, vaporized no public buildings, reduced no man to his atomic elements. But it fell, it fell.

Everyone's a pacifist between wars. It's like being a vegetarian between meals.

Everyone's a pacifist between wars. It's like being a vegetarian between meals.

War challenges virtually every other institution of society--the justice and equity of its economy, the adequacy of its political systems, read more

War challenges virtually every other institution of society--the justice and equity of its economy, the adequacy of its political systems, the energy of its productive plant, the bases, wisdom and purposes of its foreign policy.

Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That read more

Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine 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 any country.