50 Quotes From Famous Anti-War Voices
History has repeatedly shown us that violence, bloodshed, hatred, and weapons increase suffering, pain, and dread in a nation during a war. Observe how the ongoing battle between the two countries makes villages mass graveyards.
Keep in mind that no one wins in a brutal war. There can be no victory when there are dead, as Mehmet Murat Ildan famously said. Any dispute over a country’s border should never be resolved by going to war. All peacemakers have stressed this point throughout history.
Our selection of well-known anti-war quotes argues that, no matter how alluring it may be to demonstrate a nation’s might through war, the outcome will always be bittersweet.
Powerful Anti War Quotes
People must continue to struggle for peace even when violent conflict is frequently reported in news headlines worldwide. As we intentionally choose to stop fighting, we must actively work for peace. One way to accomplish that is to speak up.
“I appeal for cessation of hostilities, not because you are too exhausted to fight, but because war is bad in essence.”
MAHATMA GANDHI
“The more money you spend on guns, the less money you spend on people! More weapons, less happiness; more guns, more misery!”
MEHMET MURAT İLDAN
“Nations who are proud of their guns, tanks, missiles etc. are deprived of humanity!”
MEHMET MURAT İLDAN
“War… is as much a punishment to the punisher as to the sufferer.”
THOMAS JEFFERSON
“Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.”
ALBERT EINSTEIN
“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
JAMES MADISON
“How vile and despicable war seems to me! I would rather be hacked to pieces than take part in such an abominable business.”
ALBERT EINSTEIN
“In war, truth is the first casualty.”
AESCHYLUS
“You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.”
ALBERT EINSTEIN
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
ALBERT EINSTEIN
“One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.”
AGATHA CHRISTIE
Peace Anti War Quotes
All that war does is bring about destruction and loss of life. We’ve rounded up some of the best anti-war quotes right here.
“We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.”
JIMMY CARTER
“No more war, war never again! Peace, it is peace, which must guide the destinies of people and of all mankind.”
POPE PAUL VI
“There never was a good war or a bad peace.”
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
“Peace is not achieved by controlling nations, but mastering our thoughts.”
JOHN HARRICHARAN
“If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.”
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
“Peace is the virtue of civilization. War is its crime.”
VICTOR HUGO
“Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.”
GEORGE WASHINGTON
“Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.”
RONALD REAGAN
“War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.”
THOMAS MANN
“Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.”
DWIGHT D EISENHOWER
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”
ALBERT EINSTEIN
Anti War Memorial Day Quotes
On Memorial Day, we remember everyone who has lost their lives in combat and recognize that no one wins in battle. The effects of war have personally affected many of us. Here are a few anti-war quotes for Memorial Day.
“Liberty isn’t free, despite the fact that we ‘freely’ disregard that fact.”
CRAIG D. LOUNSBROUGH
“When the soldiers came home from Vietnam, there were no parades, no celebrations. So they built the Vietnam Memorial for themselves.”
GENERAL WILLIAM WESTMORELAND
Popular Anti War Quotes
Some more popular Anti War Quotes
“If you like war, be a nationalist. If you like peace, be a citizen of the world.”
OLIVER MARKUS MALLOY
“The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”
GEORGE ORWELL
“Society has arisen out of the works of peace; the essence of society is peacemaking. Peace and not war is the father of all things.”
LUDWIG VON MISES
“War, in the end, is always about betrayal, betrayal of the young by the old, of soldiers by politicians, and of idealists by cynics.”
CHRIS HEDGES
“Europeans are far more anti war than Americans. They’ve had more wars, and they really just don’t believe in it anymore.”
MARK KURLANSKY
“It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.”
ALBERT EINSTEIN
“A people free to choose will always choose peace.”
RONALD REAGAN
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
MAHATMA GANDHI
More Anti War Quotes
A compilation of more inspirational anti-war sayings, anti-war proverbs, and anti-war statements.
“My personal opinion is that if someone writes honestly about war, it will inherently be anti-war.”
KEVIN POWERS
“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
ALBERT EINSTEIN
“There is a higher court than courts of justice, and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.”
MAHATMA GANDHI
“War is like a vacuum cleaner that sucks tax dollars out of your pocket and funnels the money directly into the pockets of the robber barons who own the weapons factories.”
OLIVER MARKUS MALLOY
“People do not make wars; governments do.”
RONALD REAGAN
“War does not determine who is right, only who is left.”
BERTRAND RUSSELL
“It is our true policy to steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world.”
GEORGE WASHINGTON
“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”
JAMES MADISON
“What is absurd and monstrous about war is that men who have no personal quarrel should be trained to murder one another in cold blood.”
ALDOUS HUXLEY
“Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.”
JAMES MADISON
“War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.”
GEORGE ORWELL
“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”
MAHATMA GANDHI
“This world of ours… must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.”
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
“Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.”
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
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