Adlai Stevenson I Quotes

The war... was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forebearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides.

The more bombers, the less room for doves of peace.

The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it.

I could have been very popular if I had launched a military attack on Iran but I chose patience.

It is easier to lead men to combat and stir up their passions than to temper them and urge them to the patient labors of peace.

We know from our own history, and that of our neighbors, that where conflicts and disagreements are not resolved peacefully, the suffering and bloodshed that follows and the collapse of economic and social development leads to tragic consequences.

Our conflict is not likely to cease so soon as every good man would wish. The measure of iniquity is not yet filled; and unless we can return a little more to first principles, and act a little more upon patriotic ground, I do not know when it will-or-what may be the issue of the contest. Speculation-peculation-engrossing-forestalling-with all their concomitants, afford too many melancholy proofs of the decay of public virtue; and too glaring instances of its being the interest and desire of too many, who would wish to be thought friends, to continue the war.

We love action and adventure, but we use it to go out and start wars and kill people.

War's a game, which, were their subjects wise, Kings would not play at.

If I had my way, this war would never have been commenced. If I had been allowed my way this war would have been ended before this.

Beyond the futility of armed force, and ultimately more important, is the fact that war in our time inevitably results in the indiscriminate killing of large numbers of people. To put it more bluntly, war is terrorism. That is why a 'war on terrorism' is a contradiction in terms.

War destroys, kills, impoverishes. Lord, give us your peace!

I don't believe in war, I believe in the principle of deterrence.

My fellow Americans, let us take that first step. Let us...step back from the shadow of war and seek out the way of peace. And if that journey is a thousand miles, or even more, let history record that we, in this land, at this time, took the first step.

We love and we value peace; we know its blessings from experience. We abhor the follies of war, and are not untried in its distresses and calamities.

Every country should be tired of going to war. War is a terrible thing. If I had been in Congress, as much as I would be inclined naturally to be supportive of a president, any president, I would have voted no, had the issue come to a vote.

One should never permit a disorder to persist in order to avoid a war, for wars cannot be avoided and can only be deferred to the advantage of others.

None of us wants any more war.

Of course, let us have peace, we cry, "but at the same time let us have normalcy, let us lose nothing, let our lives stand intact, let us know neither prison nor ill repute nor disruption of ties ... " There is no peace because there are no peacemakers. There are no makers of peace because the making of peace is at least as costly as the making of war - at least as exigent, at least as disruptive, at least as liable to bring disgrace and prison, and death in its wake.

And the ones who would not make war? Can they stop it?

Weapons are instruments of fear; they are not a wise man's tools. He uses them only when he has no choice.

There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy.

Having a spine is overrated. If everybody squealed and ran away, there'd be no more wars.

Why is war such an easy option? Why does peace remain such an elusive goal? We know statesmen skilled at waging war, but where are those dedicated enough to humanity to find a way to avoid war