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Nothing short of self-respect and that justice which is essential to a national character ought to involve us in war.

Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia , nor in England , nor in America , nor in Germany . That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginning of all wars - yes, an end to this brutal, inhuman and thoroughly impractical method of settling the differences between governments.

Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out... and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel… And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for ‘the universal brotherhood of man' - with his mouth.

The decision to attack the entire nation [of Yugoslavia ] has been counterproductive, and our destruction of civilian life has now become senseless and excessively brutal. The United States' insistence on the use of cluster bombs, designed to kill or maim humans, is condemned almost universally and brings discredit on our nation (as does our refusal to support a ban on land mines). Even for the world's only superpower, the ends don't always justify the means.

It is part of the moral tragedy with which we are dealing that words like ‘democracy,' ‘freedom,' ‘rights,' ‘justice,' which have so often inspired heroism and have led men to give their lives for things which make life worthwhile, can also become a trap, the means of destroying the very things men desire to uphold.

There never has been a war yet which, if the facts had been put calmly before the ordinary folk, could not have been prevented ... The common man, I think, is the great protection against war.

It is a sobering thought that better evidence is required to prosecute a shoplifter than is needed to commence a world war.

In the struggle of good against evil, it's always the people who get killed.

Every great historic change has been based on nonconformity, has been bought either with the blood or with the reputation of nonconformists.