There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare

As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy.

Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent

When the enemy is relaxed, make them toil. When full, starve them. When settled, make them move.

In war, as in life, it is often necessary, when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.

It may be necessary to use methods other than constitutional ones.

If you try to cure evil with evil you will add more pain to your fate.

Occasionally the tree of Liberty must be watered with the blood of Patriots and Tyrants.

It is only the dead who have seen the end of war

Unless a nation's life faces peril, war is murder.

The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing uptheir numbers.

To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but theopportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win

There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect.

It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of warthat can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.

There was never a bad peace or a good war.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.

What is evil? - Whatever springs from weakness.

There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.