“Religious wars are basically people killing each other over who has the better imaginary friend.”

— Napoleon I of France

There is no known basis to attribute this saying to Napoleon. It is found (unattributed) in a Usenet post from July 1999 https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=soc.penpals/QIUrpkacWyE/FbCj7pij5WwJ.
Misattributed

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

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Napoleon I of France 259

French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French 1769–1821

Richard Jeni (1957–2007) American comedian

“I don't get that -- people going to war over religion. I don't know, I could see going to war over justice or democracy or even revenge. But if you're going to war over religion, now you're just killing people in an argument over who has the better imaginary friend.”

Richard Jeni (1957–2007) American comedian

CC Presents: Richard Jeni, aired 5 May 2002 http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/6kmgg7/comedy-central-presents-brought-up-catholic.
Comedy Central Presents (2002)

“All religious wars are about people arguing over who has the biggest invisible friend.”

Yasser Arafat (1929–2004) former Palestinian President, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient

Many unsourced variations are attributed to Arafat.[citation needed] The actual origin is Richard Jeni.
Misattributed
Source: http://www.gdargaud.net/Humor/QuotesReligion.html

“This was what people fought wars over, she thought, and killed each other over, and destroyed their lives for: this nerve-shredding mixture of longing and pleasure.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

“We are agreed that before we kill each other we should better serve mankind by killing those who order us to kill each other.”

John Brunner book The Stone That Never Came Down

Source: The Stone That Never Came Down (1973), Chapter 23 (p. 180)

“War: a massacre of people who don't know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don't massacre each other.”

Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet, essayist, and philosopher

La guerre, c'est un massacre de gens qui ne se connaissent pas, au profit de gens qui se connaissent, mais ne se massacrent pas.
Bizarre, issues 24-31 (1962), p. 102
This apocryphal quote from Paul Valéry is never precisely sourced: neither on the internet nor in the works we have consulted. See: https://www.guichetdusavoir.org/question/voir/52650

“People who prefer to believe the worst of others will breed war and religious persecutions while the world lasts.”

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) English crime writer, playwright, essayist and Christian writer

Source: The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers. Vol. 1, 1899-1936: The Making of a Detective Novelist

“The person who has many friends, will be forced by necessity to create some imaginary enemies inside his mind.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“In a war of ideas it is people who get killed.”

Stanisław Jerzy Lec book Unkempt Thoughts

Unkempt Thoughts (1957), p. 21, http://books.google.com/books?id=NTtiAAAAMAAJ&q;=%22In+a+war+of+ideas+it+is+people+who+get+killed%22&pg;=PA21#v=onepage

“In the end, it is ideas for which people kill each other.”

Simon Blackburn (1944) British academic philosopher

Introduction, p. 11
Think (1999)

“Religious wars are basically people killing each other over who has the better imaginary friend.”

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Napoleon I of France 259

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