War

"At the present day, civilized opinion is a curious mental mixture. The military instincts and ideals are as strong as ever, but they are confronted by reflective criticisms which sorely curb their ancient freedom. Innumerable writers are showing up the bestial side of military service. Pure loot and mastery seem no longer morally allowable motives, and pretexts must be found for attributing them solely to the enemy."

"Follow thy drum; With man's blood paint the ground, gules, gules; Religious canons, civil laws are cruel; Then what should war be?"

"Fight, gentlemen of England! fight, bold yeomen! Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head! Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood; Amaze the welkin with your broken staves!"

"All was lost, But that the heavens fought."

"Conscience avaunt, Richard's himself again: Hark! the shrill trumpet sounds, to horse, away, My soul's in arms, and eager for the fray."

"Let's march without the noise of threat'ning drum."

"The bay-trees in our country all are wither'd And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven; The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change; Rich men look sad and ruffians dance and leap, The one in fear to lose what they enjoy, The other to enjoy by rage and war."

"He is come to open The purple testament of bleeding war."

"Put in their hands thy bruising irons of wrath, That they may crush down with heavy fall The usurping helmets of our adversaries."

"I drew this gallant head of war, And cull'd these fiery spirits from the world, To outlook conquest and to win renown Even in the jaws of danger and of death."

"Your breath first kindled the dead coal of wars And brought in matter that should feed this fire; And now 'tis far too huge to be blown out With that same weak wind which enkindled it."

"When the hurly-burly's done, When the battle's lost and won."

"The cannons have their bowels full of wrath, And ready mounted are they to spit forth Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls."

"They shall have wars and pay for their presumption."

"Now for the bare-pick'd bone of majesty Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest And snarleth in the gentle eyes of peace."

"Hang out our banners on the outward walls."

"He which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made."

"There are few die well that die in a battle."

"Grim-visag'd war hath smoothed his wrinkled front."

"Thus far into the bowels of the land Have we march'd without impediment."

"It is war's prize to take all vantage."

"And all the gods go with you! upon your sword Sit laurel victory! and smooth success Be strew'd before your feet!"

"Give me the cups; And let the kettle to the trumpet speak, The trumpet to the cannoneer without, The cannons to heavens, the heavens to earth."

"Cæsar's spirit, ranging for revenge, With Até by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice Cry "Havoc," and let slip the dogs of war."

"From camp to camp through the foul womb of night The hum of either army stilly sounds."

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead."

"The armourers, accomplishing the knights, With busy hammers closing rivets up, Give dreadful note of preparation."

"Sound trumpets! let our bloody colours wave! And either victory, or else a grave."

"Blow, wind! come, wrack! At least we'll die with harness on our back."

"The arms are fair, When the intent of bearing them is just."

"Tut, tut; good enough to toss; food for powder, food for powder; they'll fill a pit as well as better."

"Our battle is more full of names than yours, Our men more perfect in the use of arms, Our armour all as strong, our cause the best; Then reason will our hearts should be as good."

"We must have bloody noses and crack'd crowns, And pass them current too. God's me, my horse!"

"It was great pity, so it was, That villanous saltpetre should be digg'd Out of the bowels of the harmless earth, Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd So cowardly; and but for these vile guns He would himself have been a soldier."

"The fire-eyed maid of smoky war All hot and bleeding will we offer them."

"That I may truly say with the hook-nosed fellow of Rome, I came, I saw, and overcame."

"Lay on, Macduff, And damn'd be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!""

"O war! thou son of hell, Whom angry heavens do make their minister, Throw in the frozen bosoms of our part Hot coals of vengeance! Let no soldier fly. He that is truly dedicate to war Hath no self-love, nor he that loves himself, Hath not essentially but by circumstance The name of valour."

"You do not want a war. You have seen violence, you have suffered loss. But you have seen nothing of war. War is not just the business of death. It is the antithesis of life. Hope tortured and flayed, reason dismembered, grinning at its limbs in its lap. Decency raped to death."

"It's all an accident, an accident of hands. Mine, others, all without mind, from one extreme to another, but neither works nor will ever. Yet we stand here in the middle of no man's land."

"And before we judge of them too harshly we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its inferior races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?"

"If we be conquered, let men conquer us, and not these bastard Bretons; whom our fathers have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and thump'd, and in record, left them the heirs of shame. Shall these enjoy our lands? lie with our wives? Ravish our daughters?"

"In God's name, march: True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings: Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings."

"If you need to stop an asteroid, you call Superman. If you need to solve a mystery, you call Batman. But if you need to end a war, you call Wonder Woman."

"The problem with gun runners going to war, is that there is no shortage of ammunition."

"I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy; we fought ourselves. The enemy was in us. The war is over for me now, but it will always be there, the rest of my days. As I'm sure Elias will be, fighting with Barnes for what Rhah called "possession of my soul." There are times since, I've felt like a child, born of those two fathers. But be that as it may, those of us who did make it have an obligation to build again. To teach to others what we know, and to try with what's left of our lives to find a goodness and a meaning to this life."

"With every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel."

"If you are not affected, if you are not hurt by what we do, then you will not do anything to stop it. The war will simply continue. As long as it is just the soldiers, these barbaric men with guns who kill each other, as long as the damage is far away, the destruction and death out of your sight, then no amount of hand wringing and moral outrage will make it end. If you are affected, if your farms, your crops are destroyed, your neat buildings in your perfect towns burned to the ground, then there will be a reason to stop this. War is not tidy, it is not convenient, it is everywhere. It has to be felt by everyone. War is hell."

"Once that first bullet goes past your head, politics and all that shit just goes right out the window."

"The Minstrel-Boy to the war is gone, In the ranks of death you'll find him; His father's sword he has girded on, And his wild harp slung behind him. "Land of song!" said the warrior-bard, "Tho' all the world betrays thee, One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard, One faithful harp shall praise thee!""