“It is the oldest ironies that are still the most satisfying: man, when preparing for bloody war, will orate loudly and most eloquently in the name of peace.”

—  Alan Moore, book Watchmen

Source: Watchmen

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Alan Moore274
English writer primarily known for his work in comic books 1953

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“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.”

George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States

First Annual Address, to both Houses of Congress (8 January 1790).
Compare: "Qui desiderat pacem præparet bellum" (translated: "Who would desire peace should be prepared for war"), Vegetius, Rei Militari 3, Prolog.; "In pace, ut sapiens, aptarit idonea bello" (translated: "In peace, as a wise man, he should make suitable preparation for war"), Horace, Book ii. satire ii.
1790s

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“In peace, prepare for war. In war, prepare for peace.”

Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC) ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty

Sometimes erroneously prepended to the opening line "The art of war is of vital importance to the State", but appears to be a variation of the Roman motto "Si vis pacem, para bellum". It's not clear who first misattributed this phrase to Sun Tzu. The earliest appearance of the phrase in Google Books is 1920, when it appeared in a pharmaceutical journal, but no attribution was given then.
Misattributed

Horace photo

“In peace, as a wise man, he should make suitable preparation for war.”
in pace, ut sapiens, aptarit idonea bello

Horace book Satires

Book II, satire ii, line 111
Satires (c. 35 BC and 30 BC)

Michael T. Flynn photo

“Most Americans mistakenly believe that peace is the normal condition of mankind, while war is some weird aberration. Actually, it’s the other way around. Most of human history has to do with war, and preparations for the next one. But we Americans do not prepare for the next war, are invariably surprised when it erupts, and, since we did not take prudent steps when it would have been relatively simple to prevail, usually end up fighting on our enemies’ more difficult and costly terms.”

Michael T. Flynn (1958) 25th United States National Security Advisor

Introduction
The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies (2016)

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“I prefer the most unfair peace to the most righteous war.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

“Whatever is praised everywhere else yields to Spain alone. It is she that spawns the toughest soldiers, the most experienced generals, the most eloquent orators, the most famous poets; she is the mother of judges—and the mother of Emperors. She gave the Empire the great Trajan, and then Hadrian; to her the Empire is indebted for you [Theodosius I].”
Dum Hispaniae uni quidquid ubique laudatur adsurgat. Haec durissimos milites, haec experientissimos duces, haec facundissimos oratores, haec clarissimos uates parit, haec iudicum mater haec principum est. Haec Traianum illum, haec deinceps Hadrianum misit imperio; huic te debet imperium.

Pacatus Drepanius

"Panegyric of Theodosius" (389), as recorded in the Panegyrici Latini. Translation from C. E. V. Nixon and Barbara Saylor Rodgers, In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The Panegyrici Latini (1994), p. 452 https://books.google.com/books?id=0WlC_UtU8M4C&pg=PA452&dq=%22It+is+she+that+spawns+the+toughest+soldiers%22&hl=en&sa=X#v=onepage&q=%22It%20is%20she%20that%20spawns%20the%20toughest%20soldiers%22&f=false, original Latin at p. 649 https://books.google.com/books?id=0WlC_UtU8M4C&pg=PA649&dq=%22It+is+she+that+spawns+the+toughest+soldiers%22&hl=en&sa=X#v=onepage&q=%22Haec%20durissimos%20milites%22&f=false.

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“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him”

John Piper (1946) American writer

Variant: He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
Source: Don't Waste Your Life

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“Our mission is at once the oldest and the most basic of this country: to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man.”

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) American politician, 36th president of the United States (in office from 1963 to 1969)

1960s, The American Promise (1965)

“Thousands of pulpit orators have swayed their audiences as a wind sways standing corn; but in the result, those who were most affected differed nothing from their former selves. An effect of eloquence is sufficient to account for a vast amount of feeling at the moment; but to trace to this a moral power, by which a man, for his life long, overcomes his besetting sins, and adorns his name with Christian virtues, is to make sport of human nature.”

William Arthur (minister) (1819–1901) Wesleyan Methodist minister and author

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 322.

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