Voltaire War Quotations

In this country we find it pays to shoot an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.

It would be easier to subjugate the entire universe through force than the minds of a single village.

Los Padres have everything and the people have nothing; 'tis the masterpiece of reason and justice. For my part, I know nothing so divine as Los Padres who make war on Kings of Spain and Portugal and in Europe act as their confessors; who here kill Spaniards and at Madrid send them to Heaven.

Such then is the human condition, that to wish greatness for one's country is to wish harm to one's neighbors.

One of the chief misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowardly.

An admiral should be put to death now and then to encourage the others.

Men appear to prefer ruining one another's fortunes, and cutting each other's throats about a few paltry villages, to extending the grand means of human happiness.

All the persecutors declare against each other mortal war, while the philosopher, oppressed by them all, contents himself with pitying them.

Slavery is also as ancient as war, and war as human nature.

God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.

It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape.

Where some states possess an army, the Prussian Army possesses a state.

To hold a pen is to be at war.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

War is the greatest of all crimes; and yet there is no aggressor who does not color his crime with the pretext of justice.

The biggest reward for a thing well done is to have done it.

To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.