War and Military

 "War! What is it good for? Economic growth." - Felicity Ward

"Wars are great initiators of new slang." - Jeanne Matthews 

"Now their long war was over and they could get on with the proper concern of civilised nations, which is to prepare for the next one." - Terry Pratchett

“The enemy gets a vote.” - James Mattis

"The place where you find out if you are really a pacifiist is halfway to the floor."  - Utah Phillips

"Dead soldiers are much more convenient than those that are still alive."  - Margaret Atwood

“With, without. And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?” – Roger Waters

“The bird of war is not the eagle, but the stork.” -  Charles Francis Potter, 1931.

"Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace.” – Senator Charles Sumner

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children." -Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953.

"It is irresponsible to suggest we shouldn't have that debate (about the military), that we should ignore what is a major, major concern." -Dick Cheney, 2000

"For security reasons, there are no security reports." -Coalition Provisional Authority (i.e. Iraqi occupation government)

"One of the things we don't want to do is destroy the infrastructure of Iraq, because in a few days we're going to own that country." -Tom Brokaw

"Why not go to war for oil? We need oil." -Ann Coulter

"It's a shame the French are not with us, as we could get them to advise the Iraqis on the best means of surrender." -Congressman Pete King (R-NY)

"Already, the media myth-making machine is spewing out alarming reports of the 'shadowy force' of Taleban 'fundamentalists' in Darth Vaderish black turbans who want to impose 'purist Islamic' rule. That's scary stuff. But it's not true, and may even be dangerous in this case. Because the Taleban could be the best thing that's happened to Afghanistan in years, and they are counting on Western support for their efforts to restore Afghanistan's independence, and free it from drug smugglers and visiting terrorists. If the policy makers get too hung up on those black turbans, they're going to miss some white hats underneath." -Nancy deWolf Smith, Wall Street Journal, 1995

"A typical U.S. navy cruiser puts to sea with no less than 26 tonnes of manuals for its weapon systems." -John W. Grace

"When you get right down to it, you have to protect the manliness of war." -General Robert Barrow, USMC

"The fist starves the hand." -Noah Ben Shea

"Essentially the United States is the big daddy rabbit of NATO." -Admiral R. James Woolsey

"We don't win unless CNN says we win." -General George Shalikashvili, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff

"When a war is over neither the dead nor the living can ever go home." -Archie Binns