War Quotes

The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known, for then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points

~ Sun Tzu

if you fight with all your might,  there is a chance of life; where as death is certain if you cling to your corner

~ Sun Tzu

You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked.

~ Sun Tzu

We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors.

~ Sun Tzu

Whether in an advantageous position or a disadvantageous one, the opposite state should be always present to your mind.

~ Sun Tzu

There are not more than five primary colors  (blue, yellow,  red, white, and black), yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen.

~ Sun Tzu

When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is INSUBORDINATION.

~ Sun Tzu

Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise,  for the result is waste of time and   general stagnation.

~ Sun Tzu

When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is COLLAPSE.

~ Sun Tzu

The principle on which to manage an army is to set up one standard of courage which all must reach.

~ Sun Tzu

We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country -- its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps.

~ Sun Tzu

Danger has a bracing effect.

~ Sun Tzu

first lay plans which will ensure victory, and then lead your army to battle;  if you will not begin with stratagem but rely on brute strength alone, victory will no longer be assured

~ Sun Tzu

If we wish to wrest an advantage from the enemy, we must not fix our minds on that alone, but allow for the possibility of the enemy also doing some harm to us, and let this enter as a factor into our calculations.

~ Sun Tzu

To begin by bluster, but afterwards to take fright at the enemy's numbers, shows a supreme lack of intelligence.

~ Sun Tzu

Be stern in the council-chamber, [Show no weakness, and insist on your plans being ratified by the sovereign.] so that you may control the situation.

~ Sun Tzu

At first, then, exhibit the coyness of a maiden,  until the enemy gives you an opening; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a running hare, and it will be too late for the enemy to oppose you.

~ Sun Tzu

Ground on which we can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is desperate ground.

~ Sun Tzu

When an invading force crosses a river in its onward march, do not advance to meet it in mid-stream.  It will be best to let half the army get across, and then deliver your attack.

~ Sun Tzu

Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

~ Sun Tzu

Knowing the enemy enables you to take the offensive, knowing yourself enables you to stand on the defensive.

~ Sun Tzu

If his forces are united, separate them.

~ Sun Tzu

who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits

~ Sun Tzu

do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat

~ Sun Tzu

Conceal your dispositions, and your condition will remain secret, which leads to victory;  show your dispositions, and your condition will become patent, which leads to defeat.

~ Sun Tzu

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.

~ Sun Tzu

These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.

~ Sun Tzu

So long as victory can be attained,  stupid haste is preferable to clever dilatoriness.

~ Sun Tzu

The greatest tragedy to ever happen to a nation is not the incidences of war or terrorism. It's when more bookshops close down and more drinking bars are opened to replace them!

~ Israelmore Ayivor

The most ignorant and wasted youthful generation is the very one that the older generation uses to create social conflicts to their own youthful detriment!

~ Israelmore Ayivor

Be quick to resolve conflicts before they mature to become wars. The energetic crocodile was once a delicate egg!

~ Israelmore Ayivor

The little I have, I share with you; the little you have, you also share with me. Together we all have a full share of everything. Share with me your Love as I share with you my Peace; together we have full share of Unity!

~ Israelmore Ayivor

I will love to be called a foolish man of peace, than to be named a wise man of war. Show me your weapons of war and I will show you my Bible of peace!

~ Israelmore Ayivor

So when I arrived in Saudi Arabia in August of 2001, as there was no chemical, biological, or nuclear war going on, all I prepared for was to be bored until it was time to go home. Obviously, that plan failed.

~ Brian Castner

He who writes is the martyr, seen through the eyes of the unassuming doll.

~ A.k. Kuykendall

When time furtively slips like sand through the fingers and our memory becomes tired and lazy, we recognize we are at war. We are at war with forgetfulness. (The past was her best friend )

~ Erik Pevernagie

War ends at the moment when peace permanently wins out. Not when the articles of surrender are signed or the last shot is fired, but when the last shout of a sidewalk battle fades, when the next generation starts to wonder whether the whole thing ever really happened. World War II ended as war always ends -- by trailing off into nothingness and doubt. Its final monument has never been seen by mortal eyes. It's a phantom image at the edge of a rumor: an unmarked grave in the depths of the South American jungle where a weird and decrepit old man, half forgotten by the world, at last entered the lists of oblivion.

~ Lee Sandlin

Didn’t young people care what the generation before them had achieved? And if not, why had everyone gone through those grim difficult wartime years?

~ Sara Sheridan

It was nearly ten years since the peace though her memories of the war still felt fresh.

~ Sara Sheridan

The assassination of Allende quickly covered over the memory of the Russian invasion of Bohemia, the bloody massacre in Bangladesh caused Allende to be forgotten, the din of war in the Sinai Desert drowned out the groans of Bangladesh, the massacres in Cambodia caused the Sinai to be forgotten, and so on, and on and on, until everyone has completely forgotten everything.

~ Milan Kundera