A war is never undertaken by the ideal State, except in defense of its honor or its safety.
Veterans Day Quotes
Nothing on this page was written for Veterans Day. It is built from four pages, War, Courage, Patriotism and Gratitude, and the mix is not tidy. The war page contains plenty of writers who hated it, and the patriotism page contains Bertrand Russell remarking in 1962 that patriots talk of dying for their country and never of killing for it.
That makes the page more honest than a greeting card and less convenient. If you need a line of thanks, the gratitude entries are the safest place to look. If you want something that sounds like a speech, read the notes first, because some of the best-known patriotic lines here are flagged as misattributed.
Most quoted on veterans day:
Private profit is often hidden under a careful coating of great patriotism.
Wars, and the administration of public affairs, are the principal objects of history.
Unless a reviewer has the courage to give you unqualified praise, I say ignore the bastard.
When a war is won, it's the losers, not the winners, who are liberated.
Our goal is not to spin the flywheel of military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war.
"Well, anyway, I am one of the best five writers to come out of English music since the War."
No wonder scoundrels find refuge in patriotism; it offers them immunity from criticism.
We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war.