War is the father of us all, King of all. Some it makes gods, some it makes men, some it makes slaves, some free

The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation form their purposes

Every government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck

In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful

Mine is the first generation able to contemplate the possibility that we may live our entire lives without going to war or sending our children to war

God had to come back. . . He had to reward those who had suffered in this war that He allowed to take place

You spoil the sacraments of the Church, you tear up the articles of the Faith, you destroy the churches, you break and burn the statues which were set up as memorials, you massacre Christians because they preserve the true Faith. What is this fury? Or what rage or madness consumes you? This faith, which God Almighty, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have revealed, established, elevated to power, and glorified a thousand ways through miracles - you persecute this Faith, you wish to overthrow and destroy it. You are blind, but not because you lack eyes or understanding. Do you believe that you will remain unpunished for it? Or are you unaware that God opposes your unlawful efforts and will not permit you to remain in darkness and error? So that the more you indulge yourselves in crime and sacrilege, the more He will prepare great punishments and anguish for you. As far as I am concerned, to tell you frankly, if I wasn't occupied in the English wars I would have come to see you a long time ago; but if I don't find out that you have reformed yourselves I might leave off [fighting] the English and go against you, so that by iron, if I can't do it any other way, I will eliminate your mad and obscene superstition and remove your heresy or your life; but if you would prefer to return to the Catholic faith and the original Light, then send your ambassadors to me and I will tell them what you need to do; if [on the other hand] you are not willing and if you obstinately resist the spur, remember what damage and offenses you have committed and await me, who will inflict similar upon you with forces human and divine

War - hard apprenticeship of freedom

He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder

In war, when a commander becomes so bereft of reason and perspective that he fails to understand the dependence of arms on Divine guidance, he no longer deserves victory