War And Peace Quotes

“A man on a thousand mile walk has to forget his goal and say to himself every morning, 'Today I'm going to cover twenty-five miles and then rest up and sleep.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

“All we can know is that we know nothing. And that's the height of human wisdom.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

“They have the guns, we have the poets. Therefore, we will win.”
― Howard Zinn

“Those whom God wishes to destroy he drives mad.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

“... as long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters.”
― Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume I

“It would be good," thought Prince Andrei, glancing at the little image that his sister had hung around his neck with such reverence and emotion, "It would be good if everything were as clear and simple as it seems to Princess Marya . How good it would be to know where to seek help in this life, and what to expect after it, beyond the grave! How happy and at peace I should be if I could now say:" Lord have mercy on me!... But to whom should I say this? To some power--- indefinable and incomprehensible, to which I not only cannot appeal, but which I cannot express in words---The Great All or Nothing," he said to himself, "or to that God who has been sewn into this amulet by Marya? There is nothing certain, nothing except the nothingness of everything that is comprehensible to me, and the greatness of something incomprehensible but all important!”
― Leo Tolstoy

“A strange night, he thought. Somewhere now there is shooting and men are being hunted and imprisoned and tortured and murdered, some corner of a peaceful world is being trampled upon, and one knows it, helplessly, and life buzzes on in the bright bistros of the city, no one cares, and people go calmly to sleep, and I am sitting here with a woman between pale chrysanthemums and a bottle of calvados, and the shadow of love rises, trembling, lonesome, strange and sad, it too an exile from the safe gardens of the past, shy and wild and quick as if it had no right”
― Erich Maria Remarque, Arch of Triumph: A Novel of a Man Without a Country

“He got up, wishing to go around, but the aunt handed him the snuffbox right over Helene, behind her back. Helene moved forward so as to make room and, smiling, glanced around. As always at soirees, she was wearing a gown in the fashion of the time, quite open in front and back. Her bust, which had always looked like marble to Pierre, was now such a short distance from him that he could involuntarily make out with his nearsighted eyes the living loveliness of her shoulders and neck, and so close to his lips that he had only to lean forward a little to touch her. He sensed the warmth of her body, the smell of her perfume, and the creaking of her corset as she breathed. He saw not her marble beauty, which made one with her gown, he saw and sensed all the loveliness of her body, which was merely covered by clothes. And once he had seen it, he could not see otherwise, as we cannot return to a once-exposed deception.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

“How come we can invent better ways to kill each other, but not one to preserve peace!”
― Abhijit Naskar

“If A Tree Falls (Sonnet)

If a tree falls in the forest, but
nobody hears it, did it really fall!

If children are bombed to death,
but it's omitted from the news,
did the children really die!

If people are massacred by law,
but it's not on Netflix,
is it really a genocide!

If democracy is dismantled piece by piece,
but by government decree,
is it really illegal!

If the world is burnt to cinders,
but the privileged castles stay intact,
is the world really burning!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurosonnets: The Naskar Art of Neuroscience

“[Alon Johnson] Later wrote that, "coming through a battered building near a well known and dangerous doorway. I heard something unfamiliar -- the sound of excited voices somewhere in the distance. The significance of this babble seemed to escape the tired company, but to me it suggested a sudden and radical change in the situation. Important enough to risk being shot at by showing myself in the doorway. Nothing happened, so I stepped into the street,...”
― Mark Zuehlke, Ortona: Canada's Epic World War II Battle

“Stronger the military, stupider the citizens. World in trance of arms, is a planet of the apes.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Humanitarian Dictator

“War is the currency of political power.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“People defend war, but war doesn’t defend people.”
― Tamerlan Kuzgov

“Stronger the military,
stupider the citizens.
Louder the ammunition,
lousier the education.

More titanic the tanks,
more pathetic the primates.
World in trance of arms,
is a planet of the apes.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Humanitarian Dictator

“Never Serve Your Nation (Sonnet)

Educate your children never to serve your nation;
to serve the nation makes monkey out of human,
killing on the basis of nationality and religion.

If you wanna serve your nation,
serve through science, serve through art,
serve through music, literature, industry,
but never through military.

However, if you wanna make crime your career,
with all the glorious decorations -
kill one person, it's murder -
kill in bulk, it's patriotism.

Soldiers are just glorified webcam models,
standing erect to serve political libido.
Be the human your flesh appears to be,
or go back to the jungle, your mind is suited so.

Science, arts, music, innovation,
that's how you serve a nation.
There is no greater dipsomaniac
profession, than militarist infestation.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Educate your children never to serve your nation; to serve the nation makes monkey out of human, killing on the basis of nationality and religion. If you wanna serve your nation, serve through science, serve through art, serve through music, literature, industry, but never through military.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“If you wanna serve your nation, serve through science, serve through art, serve through music, literature, industry, but never through military.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Good and just though our fight may be against the wicked, we wished not that such terrible things had come to pass and that these fallen legions could be reconciled into our embrace, once again.”
― ArtakaWorks Studio

“Apes in pulpits and parliament halls,
chanting bruality as song of the braves -
apes who crave war to feel worthy,
find honor in pinning medals on graves.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The God Sonnets: Naskar Art of Theology

“There is an unwritten rule and a heavy mental status in war: those who fight well never call for a ceasefire. Those who do are often seeking a dignified way to surrender, in the hope of concealing their shame.”
― Mohammed Zaki Ansari, "Zaki's Gift Of Love"

“In the opera of war, peace is fugitive.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Fugitive Peace (Sonnet 2219)

In the opera of war, peace is fugitive -
thinking soldiers are no good to state,
either you kill without question, and grab
your medal, or get discharged dishonorably.

Thinking citizens are no good to democracy,
either you obey blind or be branded a terrorist.
Either you hold your mouth, mind and backbone,
or be jailed as an anarchist.

If you want to be an actor,
don't go to film school,
become an intern to some politician.
Some say secularism is in their blood,
some say liberty, all the while being
the posterboys of persecution.

No politician will prioritize peace,
if they did, they would be out of business.
War is the currency of political power -
abandon fanaticism, and politicians go extinct.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Military is not social service, military is the antithesis of society and service.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Military is the ultimate failure of education.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“The day children are raised without religion and nationality, that's the beginning of peacemaking.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“Ceasefire only postpones war, demilitarization plants peace.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“Greed fuels war, for war is profitable.
As long as there are profits,
peace is but a fable.”
― Hagir Elsheikh, Dreamer In Chains: Poems of Exile and Resilience

“Politicians are professional gaslighters, they gaslight people against people, neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother, humanity against humanity - that's how they stay in business. And the fact that we've evolved from the apes, doesn't help much - our jungle instincts of tribalism don't need much coaxing to be blown into fully fledged war, between cultures, between religions, between nations.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“A politician truly hellbent on peace focuses on education not ammunition. But finding a politician hellbent on peace is like finding snow in the Sahara.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper