Veterans Day: A Time to Reflect on War

In honor of Veterans Day, I had intended to write a long piece about the ugly horrors of war. I wanted to share thoughts on how awful it is that we're still at war in Afghanistan, or how we as human beings are always, always, always out to slit throats and shoot stomachs and kill, kill, kill. Then I realized that nothing I had to offer was new. All of this has been said before. All of this has been ignored before. I hope that, perhaps, a small percentage of my readers will listen to the voice inside them that says "war is wrong", and barring that, will at least listen to the wisdom of generations of folks wiser than you or I. Happy Veterans Day, and thank you all who serve. I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, "Mother, what was war?"

Eve Merriam All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers.

Francois Fenelon An unjust peace is better than a just war.

Marcus Tullius Cicero Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

Dwight D. Eisenhower He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.

Albert Einstein I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.

John Adams I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.

George McGovern If it's natural to kill, how come men have to go into training to learn how?

Joan Baez If we don't end war, war will end us.

H. G. Wells Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.

Ernest Hemingway Only the dead have seen the end of the war.

George Santayana Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.

Bertrand Russell Sometime they'll give a war and nobody will come.

Carl Sandburg The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.

David Friedman The first casualty when war comes is truth.

Hiram Johnson The military don't start wars. Politicians start wars.

William Westmoreland To walk through the ruined cities of Germany is to feel an actual doubt about the continuity of civilization.

George Orwell War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Bertrand Russell War grows out of the desire of the individual to gain advantage at the expense of his fellow man.

Napoleon Hill What is the use of physicians like myself trying to help parents to bring up children healthy and happy, to have them killed in such numbers for a cause that is ignoble?

Benjamin Spock You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.

Jeannette Rankin