John Milton Quotes

Wars are not favourable to delicate pleasures.

War stirs in men's hearts the mud of their worst instincts. It puts a premium on violence, nourishes hatred, and gives free rein to cupidity. It crushes the weak, exalts the unworthy, and bolsters tyranny .. .Time and time again it has destroyed all ordered living, devastated hope, and put the prophets to death.

Where destruction is the motive, unity is dangerous.

What a cruel thing war is... to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors.

The world perishes not from bandits and fires, but from hatred, hostility, and all these petty squabbles.

Why do people want to kill and maim and pillage? We're all in it together.

The history of our civilization has been one of intermittent war.

It was a night when London was ringed and stabbed with fire.

For what can war, but endless war, still breed?

May the same Almighty Goodness banish the accursed monster, war, from all lands, with her hated associates, rapine and insatiable ambition!

In the city that the wolf enters, enemies will be close by. An alien force will sack a great country. Allies will cross the mountains and the borders.

I know of nothing more exciting than war.

War is a lot of things and it's useless to pretend that exciting isn't one of them. (pg. 144)

What’s so civil about war anyway?

Realize that war is common and justice is strife, and that all things come into being and pass away through strife.

That is the explanation of war, an outrage by humanity upon humanity in despite of humanity.

The worst thing about war is that so many people enjoy it.

This new war, like the previous one, would be a test of the power of machines against people and places; whatever its causes and justifications, it would make the world worse. This was true of that new war, and it has been true of every new war since... I knew too that this new war was not even new but was only the old one come again. And what caused it? It was caused, I thought, by people failing to love one another, failing to love their enemies.

War is the father and king of all.

And if humanity is the last war, then I am the battlefield.

The coming years will prove increasingly cynical and cruel. People will definitely not slip into oblivion while hugging each other. The final stages in the life of humanity will be marked by the monstrous war of all against all: the amount of suffering will be maximal.

As peace is of all goodness, so war is an emblem, a hieroglyphic, of all misery.

There can be no compromise with war; it cannot be reformed or controlled; cannot be disciplined into decency or codified into common sense; for war is the slaughter of human beings, temporarily regarded as enemies, on as large a scale as possible.

The cannon thunders... limbs fly in all directions... one can hear the groans of victims and the howling of those performing the sacrifice... it's Humanity in search of happiness.