Quotes about combat
page 6

“At the beginning of World War II the U. S. had a mere 600 or so first-class fighting aircraft. We rapidly overcame this short supply by turning out more than 90,000 planes a year. The question at the start of World War II was: Do we have enough funds to produce the required implements of war? The answer was No, we did not have enough money, nor did we have enough gold; but we did have more than enough resources. It was the available resources that enabled the US to achieve the high production and efficiency required to win the war. Unfortunately this is only considered in times of war.”

Jacque Fresco (1916–2017) American futurist and self-described social engineer

Money, War, World, Question

“Work hard for what you want because it won’t come to you without a fight. You have to be strong and know that you can do anything you put your mind to. If somebody puts you down or criticizes you, just keep on believing in yourself and turn it into something positive.”

Ralph Smart

Strong, Motivational, Deep, Success

“Our character is not defined by the struggles and conflicts we traverse in life, nor by wins and losses; but instead, by the battles we dare to fight.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

1972

Life, Loss

“If bin Laden is fighting enemies of Islam, I am for him. If he is terrorizing the terrorist, if he is terrorizing America – the terrorist, biggest terrorist – I am with him. Every Muslim should be a terrorist. The thing is that if he is terrorizing the terrorist, he is following Islam. Whether he is or not, I don’t know, but you as Muslims know that, without checking up, laying allegations is also wrong.”

Zakir Naik (1965) Islamic televangelist

“This weekend, our hearts are with the people of San Bernardino — another American community shattered by unspeakable violence. We salute the first responders — the police, the SWAT teams, the EMTs — who responded so quickly, with such courage, and saved lives. We pray for the injured as they fight to recover from their wounds.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

We Will Not Be Terrorized (December 2015)

People, Communication, Courage, Heart

“And we won’t win people over by calling them names, or dismissing entire chunks of the country as racist, or sexist, or homophobic. When I say bring people together, I mean all of our people. You know, this whole notion that has sprung up recently about Democrats need to choose between trying to appeal to the white working class voters, or voters of color, and women and LGBT Americans, that’s nonsense. I don’t buy that. I got votes from every demographic. We won by reaching out to everybody and competing everywhere and by fighting for every vote. And that’s what we’ve got to do in this election and every election after that.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2018, Speech at the University of Illinoise Speech (2018)

Women, People, Color, Country

“It should not be Democratic or Republican, it should not be a partisan issue to say that we do not pressure the attorney general or the FBI to use the criminal justice system as a cudgel to punish our political opponents. Or to explicitly call on the attorney general to protect members of our own party from prosecution because an election happens to be coming up. I’m not making that up. That’s not hypothetical. It shouldn’t be Democratic or Republican to say that we don’t threaten the freedom of the press because they say things or publish stories we don’t like. I complained plenty about Fox News but you never heard me threaten to shut them down, or call them enemies of the people. It shouldn’t be Democratic or Republican to say we don’t target certain groups of people based on what they look like or how they pray. We are Americans. We’re supposed to stand up to bullies. Not follow them. We’re supposed to stand up to discrimination. And we’re sure as heck supposed to stand up, clearly and unequivocally, to Nazi sympathizers. How hard can that be? Saying that Nazis are bad. I’ll be honest, sometimes I get into arguments with progressive friends about what the current political movement requires. There are well-meaning folks passionate about social justice, who think things have gotten so bad, the lines have been so starkly drawn, that we have to fight fire with fire, we have to do the same things to the Republicans that they do to us, adopt their tactics, say whatever works, make up stuff about the other side. I don’t agree with that.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2018, Speech at the University of Illinoise Speech (2018)

Bad luck, People, Making love, Justice

“But when there’s a vacuum in our democracy, when we don’t vote, when we take our basic rights and freedoms for granted, when we turn away and stop paying attention and stop engaging and stop believing and look for the newest diversion, the electronic versions of bread and circuses, then other voices fill the void. A politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment takes hold. And demagogues promise simple fixes to complex problems. They promise to fight for the little guy even as they cater to the wealthiest and the most powerful. They promise to clean up corruption and then plunder away. They start undermining norms that ensure accountability, try to change the rules to entrench their power further. And they appeal to racial nationalism that’s barely veiled, if veiled at all.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2018, Speech at the University of Illinoise Speech (2018)

Fear, Guy, Democracy, Problem

“There are any number of reasons America emerged from its humble beginnings as a cluster of colonies to become the most prosperous, most powerful nation on earth. There is the hard work, the resilience, and the character of our people. There is the ingenuity and enterprising spirit of our entrepreneurs and innovators. There are the ideals of opportunity, equality, and freedom that have not only inspired our people to perfect our own union, but inspired others to perfect theirs as well. But from the very start, there was also something more. A steadfast commitment to serve, to fight, and if necessary, to die, to preserve America and advance the ideals we cherish. It’s a commitment witnessed at each defining moment along the journey of this country. It’s what led a rag-tag militia to face British soldiers at Lexington and Concord. It’s what led young men, in a country divided half slave and half free, to take up arms to save our union. It’s what led patriots in each generation to sacrifice their own lives to secure the life of our nation, from the trenches of World War I to the battles of World War II, from Inchon and Khe Sanh, from Mosul to Marja.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2010, Weekly Address (May 29, 2010)

Life, Men, War, People

“He could not even stand up to review his fleet when the ships were already at their fighting stations, but lay on his back and gazed up at the sky, never rising to show that he was alive until Marcus Agrippa had routed the enemy.”

Augustus (-63–14 BC) founder of Julio-Claudian dynasty and first emperor of the Roman Empire

Marcus Antonius, taunting Augustus for his conduct during the Sicilian war against Sextus Pompey in 36 BC; in Suetonius, Divus Augustus, paragraph 16. Translation: Robert Graves, 1957.

Relation ships

“Every minute of our life must be lived to the full – whether enjoyed or suffered. We must study, see the good around us, and fight the bad, and not waste time writing to a 90-year-old woman to tell her you wish she’d die. Besides, nature will take care of that.”

Liliana Segre (1930) Italian Holocaust survivor and senator for life

During a seminar at Milan’s IULM University, speaking of the haters; as quoted in "Escort for Liliana Segre following insults and threats" https://www.corriere.it/english/19_novembre_07/escort-for-liliana-segre-following-insults-and-threats-2c3dea64-015f-11ea-bfaf-9602a8f3f6c1.shtml, Corriere.it (7 November 2019).

Life, Bad luck, Nature, Study

“We are socialists because we see the social question as a matter of necessity and justice for the very existence of a state for our people, not a question of cheap pity or insulting sentimentality. The worker has a claim to a living standard that corresponds to what he produces. We have no intention of begging for that right… Since the political powers of the day are neither willing nor able to create such a situation, socialism must be fought for. It is a fighting slogan both inwardly and outwardly. It is aimed domestically at the bourgeois parties and Marxism at the same time, because both are sworn enemies of the coming workers’ state. It is directed abroad at all powers that threaten our national existence and thereby the possibility of the coming socialist national state.”

Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister

“Those Damn Nazis: Why Are We Socialists?” https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/haken32.htm written by Joseph Goebbels and Mjölnir, Die verfluchten Hakenkreuzler. Etwas zum Nachdenken, Nazi propaganda pamphlet (Munich: Verlag Frz. Eher, 1932) 1930s

People, Justice, Question, Time

“This idea of purity and that you’re never compromised and you’re always politically woke — you should get over that quickly. … The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws. People who you are fighting may love their kids, and share certain things with you. … I do get a sense sometimes now among certain young people, and this is accelerated by social media — there is this sense sometimes of the way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people, and that’s enough. If I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb, then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself. Did you see how woke I was, I called you out. Then I’m going to get on my TV and watch my show … That’s not activism. That’s not bringing about change. If all you’re doing is casting stones, you’re probably not going to get that far.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Comments at an Obama Foundation event, Chicago (29 October 2019), as quoted in "Obama Calls Out Online Call-Out Culture: 'That’s Not Activism"", Rolling Stone (30 October 2019) https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/obama-calls-out-call-out-culture-not-activism-905600/ 2019

Love, People, World, Making love

“But the conflict has not ended and the fight between the two rival forces-capitalism and socialism-goes on. There can be no permanent compromise between the two although there have been, and there may be in the future, temporary arrangements and treaties between the two. Russia and communism stand at one pole, and the great capitalist countries of Western Europe and America stand at the other. Between the two, the liberals, the moderates, and the centre parties are disappearing everywhere.”

Jawaharlal Nehru book Glimpses of World History

Glimpses of World History (1949)

Communication, Future, Country

“What are the outstanding events, then, of these past fourteen years? First in importance, I think, and most striking of all, has been the rise and consolidation of the Soviet Union, the U. S. S. R. or the Union of Socialist and Soviet Republics, as it is called. I have told you already something of the enormous difficulties which Soviet Russia had to face in its fight for existence. That it won in spite of them is one of the wonders of this century. The Soviet system spread all over the Asiatic parts of the former Tsarist Empire, in Siberia right up to the Pacific and in Central Asia to within hail of the Indian frontier. Separate Soviet republics were formed, but they federated together into one Union, and this is now the U. S. S. R. This Union covers an enormous area in Europe and Asia, which is about one-sixth of the total land area of the world. The area is very big, but bigness by itself does not mean much, and Russia, and much more so Siberia and Central Asia, were very backward. The second wonder that the Soviets performed was to transform great parts of this area out of all recognition by prodigious schemes of planning. There is no instance in recorded history of such rapid advance of a people. Even the most backward areas in Central Asia have gone ahead with a rush which we in India might well envy.”

Jawaharlal Nehru book Glimpses of World History

Glimpses of World History (1949)

People, World, History, Thinking

“You can fight and lose but if you do nothing, you've already lost.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

1988

“we must fight against an opponent which is different from us. Their faces are not visible, but are hidden from view; they do not fight directly, but by stealth; they are not honourable, but unprincipled; they are not national, but international; they do not believe in work, but speculate with money; they have no homeland, but feel that the whole world is theirs.”

Viktor Orbán (1963) Hungarian politician, chairman of Fidesz

Ceremonial speech on the 170th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 https://www.kormany.hu/en/the-prime-minister/the-prime-minister-s-speeches/orban-viktor-s-ceremonial-speech-on-the-170th-anniversary-of-the-hungarian-revolution-of-1848, 15 March 2018 This speech attacking George Soros was widely reported. Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-speech-hungarys-orban-attacks-enemy-who-speculates-with-money/ Source: https://www.jta.org/2018/03/16/politics/hungarian-prime-minister-orban-attacks-enemy-speculates-money-election-rally-speech

Money, World, Feeling

“Socialism gains its true form only through a total fighting brotherhood with the forward-striving energies of a newly awakened nationalism. Without nationalism it is nothing, a phantom, a mere theory, a castle in the sky, a book. With it it is everything, the future, freedom, the fatherland!”

Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister

1930s, Die verfluchten Hakenkreuzler. Etwas zum Nachdenken (1932)

Books, Freedom, Future

“You don't want to go to war with a president [...] There's a temptation that you have to fight to tell the president what you think he wants to hear. I’ve seen really good people do that.”

Anthony Fauci (1940) American immunologist and head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Quoted in 'You don't want to go to war with a president' https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/03/anthony-fauci-trump-coronavirus-crisis-118961, 3 March 2020, Politico

War, People, Thinking

“Never reveal your wounds.
They will all believe your weaker.
They will take advantage of you.
When they see how scarred you are.
Then you will have no choice.
But to fight.
And then they will feel the wrath of a warrior.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

1994

Feeling

“Do not fight against these harmful spells. For you do not know what God wants with them. You do not know the greater divine plan behind it all.”

Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation

As attributed by Kai Lehmann, curator of the exhibition "Luther und die Hexen" ("Luther and the witches"). (2013) in “Interview with Dr. Kai Lehmann, curator of the exhibition "Luther und die Hexen" ("Luther and the witches")“ https://www.luther2017.de/en/wiki/martin-luther-and-the-witches/kai-lehmann-martin-luther-firmly-believed-in-witches/ Disputed

God

““Never despair. The darkest point of the night is the closest point to daylight. No success is achieved without effort, so fight for your goals and know that success is near.””

Alireza Kohany (1993) Musician, Actor, Entrepreneur

Source: https://knnit.com/lets-learn-the-story-of-alireza-kohanys-life-and-the-bridge-he-built-from-failure-to-success/

Effort, Success, Despair, Night

“Those mujahideen are freedom fighters. Those are people fighting for their own country and not wanting to become a satellite state of the Soviet Union, which came in and established a government of its choosing there, without regard to the feelings of the Afghans.”

Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)

As quoted in REAGAN HINTING AT ARMS FOR AFGHAN REBELS https://web.archive.org/web/20150524080811/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/10/world/reagan-hinting-at-arms-for-afghan-rebels.html (10 March 1981) 1980s, First term of office (1981–1985)

People, Feeling, Freedom, Country

“Let us praise heaven and have faith in the future: We shall see that not even the power of our enemies will weaken our determination to promote the ideals we are fighting for.”

Marcelo H. del Pilar (1850–1896) Filipino writer, lawyer, and journalist (1850-1896)

Source: Marcelo H. del Pilar to Pedro Icasiano [Pedro Serrano Laktaw] (7 March 1889), in Epistolario de Marcelo H. del Pilar, vol. I, p.43

Faith, Future

“In a scientific worldview, man determines his own fate by fighting for freedom from any kind of spiritual enslavement.”

Zafar Mirzo (1972)

Fate, Freedom

“If we stop fighting, terrorism will spread all over the world.”

Ahmad Shah Massoud (1953–2001) Afghan military leader

As quoted in Massoud's Smile https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBR8V8YWEAI9OWu?format=jpg, by Hiromi Nagakura

World

“We’re trying to do the same thing and we’ve come a long way. But it gets exhausting having to do this every day, every week. Our male counterparts have not had to fight as much – so sometimes you feel a little exhausted always having to prove yourself and show your worth.”

Alex Morgan (1989) American soccer player

"Alex Morgan: ‘If Fifa start respecting the women’s game more, others will follow’" https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jan/16/alex-morgan-us-soccer-football-fifa-lyon-women-equality (Janaury 17, 2017)

Way, Feeling

“It's all nonsense. I do not claim to be prime minister. Why do they raise such issues ?! We are all ministers in our own place. But at this age, I'm not fighting for a position.”

Ayaz Mutallibov (1938–2022) Soviet politician, then president of Azerbaijan

Source: "“Bu yaşımda durub vəzifə davası edəcəm?!” - Ayaz Mütəllibov “Rusiyanın adamıdır” iddiasına cavab verdi" https://modern.az/az/news/142660 (7 September 2017)

Age

“Even now I still meet waiters in Bengali restaurants who say, "When we were in the jungle fighting, it was great to know somebody out there was thinking of us."”

George Harrison (1943–2001) British musician, former member of the Beatles

– George Harrison, 1991 in Elliot J. Huntley, Mystical One: George Harrison – After the Break-up of the Beatles, Guernica Editions (Toronto, ON, 2006; ISBN 1-55071-197-0).

Thinking

“If i could change one thing about the world, it'd be:
Their thinking, because nowadays their thinking has become so sick that they do not see anything other than their religion. they keep fighting and quarreling with each other in the name of religion, they all forget that there is no greater religion than humanity. I want to change their thinking so that peace and harmony prevails between them.”

Shabdon Ka Jahan

World, Peace, Religion, Thinking

“Black people are fed up with the dillydallying, pussyfooting, compromising approach that we've been using toward getting our freedom. We want freedom now, but we're not going to get it saying "We Shall Overcome." We've got to fight until we overcome.”

Malcolm X The Ballot or the Bullet

Source: The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964)

People, Freedom

“Even the best opportunities and readiness to help will not give up if the nation itself does not fight and forge its own destiny by its own struggle.”

Stepan Bandera (1909–1959) Ukrainian anti-communist

"World War III and the Liberation Struggle" (1950)

Help

“Do not cave in, Russian people,
Keep fighting steadfast.
For the International cleaves itself
To your revolution.
A reprisal we ask
For that autocratic rabble.
Let autocratic blood
Flow through the streets unceasingly.”

Dolores Ibárruri (1895–1989) Spanish Republican leader of the Spanish Civil War and communist politician

People

“I know I got a bad reputation
'Walk around, always mad' reputation
'Leave a pretty girl sad' reputation
Start a Fight Club, Brad reputation Close your eyes and let the word paint a thousand pictures
One good girl is worth a thousand bitches
Bound.”

Kanye West (1977) American rapper, singer and songwriter

Bound 2
Lyrics, Yeezus (2013)

Sadness, Girl, Painting, Bitch

“Nobody wants to die, everybody wants to live, but the Russians want to rebuild a Russian empire and we don’t want to live in a Russian empire. The Russians try to put us on our knees, but we’re fighting right now for freedom and for the future of our children and our country.”

Vitali Klitschko (1971) Ukrainian boxer and politician

"Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko says he’s ready to give his life for Ukraine" https://nypost.com/2022/03/18/vitali-klitschko-says-hes-ready-to-give-his-life-for-ukraine/, New York Post, 18 March 2022

Children, Freedom, Future, Country

“In my small way I have been fighting for years against the systematic faking of history which now goes on.”

George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist

Letter to Frank Barber (15 December 1944)
The Collected Essays, Journalism & Letters, George Orwell: As I Please, 1943-1945, Editors: Sonia Orwell, Ian Angus. p. 292.

Way, History

“"Freedom is not free it's what we fight for everyday, for our children and for the next generation."-Engr. Abah Sule”

Engr.Abah Sule

Children, Freedom

“SOXX " If you can't fight back just say a word and call it a day " -Abah Sole F. E”

Engr.Abah Sule

“That there’s some good in this world. And it’s worth fighting for.”

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892–1973) British philologist and author, creator of classic fantasy works

Context: Frodo : What are we holding on to, Sam?
Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for

World

“When we won’t admit to the truth of what we want, we simultaneously fight against our truth and for our truth.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

Truth

“Can you see other people's battles as your own? There are so many similarities in every war in this world. Some are fighting for freedom and independence. Some fight for principles and ideals. But there are also those who fight only for their blind faith and ego.”

Titon Rahmawan

War, People, World, Faith

Titon Rahmawan

War, People, World, Faith

“A revolution is not a trail of roses.… A revolution is a fight to the death between the future and the past.”

Fidel Castro (1926–2016) former First Secretary of the Communist Party and President of Cuba

Speech on the second anniversary of the triumph of the revolution (2 January 1961) http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1961/esp/f020161e.html

Death, Past, Future

“Everything I know and I am and I have seen felt done past present past now then before now seen felt done hurt felt focus into a something beyond words beyond beyond beyond and it speaks now and it says.
Stay.
Fight.
Live.
Take it.”

James Frey book A Million Little Pieces

Source: A Million Little Pieces

Past, Hurt

“Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight.”

Johnny Cash (1932–2003) American singer-songwriter

People

“Most women fight wars on two fronts, one for whatever the putative topic is and one simply for the right to speak, to have ideas, to be acknowledged to be in possession of facts and truths, to have value, to be a human being.”

Rebecca Solnit book Men Explain Things To Me

Source: Men Explain Things to Me

Women, War, Truth, Idea

“I'm learning that you have to make time for what's important. You have to fight to carve little pieces of happiness out of your life, or the everyday emergencies will eat up everything.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Cerulean Sins

Source: Cerulean Sins

Life, Happiness, Learning, Time

“The world is only as fair as you can make it. Takes a lot of fight. A lot of fight. But if you stay in here, in your little cave, that's one less fighter on the side of fair.”

Libba Bray (1964) American teen writer

Source: Beauty Queens

World

“I believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Men, Evil, Time

“Older men start wars, but younger men fight them.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Men, War

“Ah, you fight like a sissy demon. (Takeshi)
Sissy demon? Have you ever met a sissy demon? (Savitar)
I killed three this morning. (Takeshi)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

“Most people have two emergency modes. Fight and Flight. But Conner always knew he had three. Fight, Flight, and Screw Up Royally.”

Neal Shusterman book Unwind

Source: Unwind

People

“Those who say they would rather fight to the death than be raped are fools. I would rather be raped a thousand times. You do what you have to.”

Alice Sebold (1963) American writer

Death, Fools, Time

“Nothing was solved when the fight was over, but nothing mattered.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

“The very purpose of a knight is to fight on behalf of a lady.”

Thomas Malory (1405–1471) English writer, author of ''Le Morte d'Arthur''

“Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight, never running from a real fight, she is the one named Sailor Moon!”

Naoko Takeuchi (1967) Japanese manga artist

Love, Evil

“As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

Quote from Vincent's letter to Theo, from Amsterdam, 30 May 1877; Dear Theo: the Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh;, ed. Irving Stone and Jean Stone (1995), p. 26
1870s
Context: When we are working at a difficult task and strive after a good thing, we are fighting a righteous battle, the direct reward of which is that we are kept from much evil. As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.

Life, Heart

“During our lives… we experience so many setbacks, and fight such a hand-to-hand battle with failure, head down in the rain, just trying to stay upright and to have a little hope.”

Lance Armstrong book It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life

Source: It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life

Hope, Failure

“There are fights that you may lose without losing your honor; what makes you lose your honor is not to fight.
-Jaques Jaujard”

Robert M. Edsel (1956) American art historian

Source: The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History

“Good-bye Clarice. Will you let me know if ever the lambs stop screaming?" "Yes." Pembry was taking her arm. It was go or fight him. "Yes," she said. "I'll tell you." "Do you promise?""Yes.”

Thomas Harris The Silence of the Lambs

Source: The Silence of the Lambs

“When you fight a war against a tyrant, who do you kill? You kill the victims of the tyrant.”

Howard Zinn (1922–2010) author and historian

War

“The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for.”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

Variant: The world is a fine place and worth fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.
Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls

World, Beauty

“I have not yet begun to fight!”

John Paul Jones (1747–1792) American naval officer

His famous response, in the early phase of the Battle of Flamborough Head, (23 September 1779) to an inquiry by his opponent (Captain Richard Pearson of the Royal Navy ship HMS Serapis) as to whether he was surrendering his ship, the USS Bonhomme Richard, as recounted in the reminiscences of Jones's First Lieutenant, Richard Dale http://www.historycentral.com/revolt/battleaccounts/Jones/Johnpaul.html, as published in The Life and Character of John Paul Jones, a Captain in the United States Navy (1825) by John Henry Sherburne: :...the Bon Homme Richard, having head way, ran her bows into the stern of the Serapis. We had remained in this situation but a few minutes when we were again hailed by the Serapis, "Has your ship struck?" To which Captain Jones answered, "I have not yet begun to fight!" In Naval teminology to "strike the colours" means to haul down the ship's flag to signify surrender, but here the use of the ship as subject of the sentence may imply a pun on the non-naval use of "struck". Variant: I have not yet begun to fight! Source: Memoirs Of Rear-admiral John Paul Jones

“Von Linden really should know me well enough by now to realise that I am not going to face my execution without a fight. Or with anything remotely resembling dignity.”

Elizabeth Wein book Code Name Verity

Variant: Von Loewe really should know me well enough by now to realize that I am not going to face my execution without a fight. Or with anything remotely resembling dignity.
Source: Code Name Verity

“I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand.”

William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist

Sleep

“He who fight monsters must take care that he doesn't become one himself.”

Anthony Horowitz book Scorpia Rising

Variant: A German philosopher once wrote that he who fights monsters must take care that he doesn't become one himself.
Source: Scorpia Rising

“Oh, that fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

Variant: Warring for peace is like screwing for virginity!!
Source: P.S. I Love You

Peace

“Piper had a new entry in her top-ten list of.
Fighting Shrimpzilla with a dagger and a pretty voice? Not so effective.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

“How do you fight someone smarter than yourself?" Rand whispered. "The anser is simple. You make her think that you are sitting down across the table from her, ready to play her game. Then you punch her in the face as hard as you can.”

Robert Jordan The Wheel of Time

Source: The Gathering Storm

Game, Thinking

“as the shadows assume
shapes
I fight the slow
retreat

now
my once-promise
dwindling
dwindling

now
lighting new cigarettes
pouring more
drinks

it has been a beautiful
fight

still
is.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Source: You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense

Beauty, Drink, Light

“Sometimes you fight what you are, and sometimes you give in to it. And some nights you just don’t want to fight yourself anymore, so you pick someone else to fight.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Incubus Dreams

Source: Incubus Dreams

Night

“I could take you down on this sidewalk and be up that skirt of yours in a heartbeat. And you wouldn't fight me, would you? No, she probably wouldn't.

Wrath and Beth”

Jessica Bird book Dark Lover

Source: Dark Lover

“Force a hand, and it will fight you. But convince and mind to think as you want it to think, an you have an ally”

Dan Brown book Digital Fortress

Source: Digital Fortress

Thinking

“Where's the point in fighting and slaying if you can make a friend out of anybeast instead of a foe?”

Brian Jacques (1939–2011) British fiction writer known for Redwall animal fantasy novels

Source: Taggerung

“You try as a parent. You love beyond reason. You fight beyond endurance. You hope beyond despair.
You never think, until the very last moment, that it still might not be enough.”

Lisa Gardner (1956) American author

Source: Live to Tell

Love, Hope, Thinking, Parent

“If the communication is perfect, the words have life, and that is all there is to good writing, putting down on the paper words which dance and weep and make love and fight and kiss and perform miracles.”

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays

Love, Life, Making love, Communication

“The Hero cares not for a wild winter's storm. For it carries him swift on the back of the storm. All may be lost and our hearts may be worn, but a Hero fights forever.”

Cressida Cowell (1966) British writer

Source: How to Twist a Dragon's Tale

Winter, Heart

“Community is a sign that love is possible in a materialistic world where people so often either ignore or fight each other. It is a sign that we don't need a lot of money to be happy--in fact, the opposite.”

Jean Vanier (1928–2019) Canadian humanitarian

Source: Community And Growth

Love, Money, Happiness, People

“Otis barreled towards them empty-handed, before apparently realizing that a) he was empty-handed and b) charging towards a large body of water to fight a son of Poseidon was maybe not a good idea.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

Idea, Water

“I would not look upon anger as something foreign to me that I have to fight… I have to deal with my anger with care, with love, with tenderness, with nonviolence.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: Being Peace

Love, Anger

“I'm home! Yuki-Kun, Tohru-Kun, I'm home! Oh, and let's not forget Stupid-clumsy-Kyo-Kun-who-lost-yet-another-fight!" -Shigure”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Source: Fruits Basket, Vol. 1

Stupidity, Home, Forgetting

“I could almost see common sense and denial fighting away at each other within her. In the end, denial won, as it so often does.”

Jasper Fforde book Lost in a Good Book

Source: Lost in a Good Book

Sense

“What the hell? We’re all screwed up some way. At least you bathe and I don’t have to fight you for chicks. In my book, that makes you all right.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Unleash the Night

Books, Way, Hell

“The three "F"s of being a werewolf, Feeding, Fighting, and… Reproduction”

Kelley Armstrong (1968) Canadian writer

“An intelligent person fights for lost causes, realizing that others are merely effects”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

Intelligence, Personality

“There never was a war that was
not inward; I must
fight till I conquered in myself what
causes war”

Marianne Moore (1887–1972) American poet and writer

In Distrust of Merits
Poetry

War

“By fighting you never get enough, but by yielding you get more than you expected.”

Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People

Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People

“Fight the fighters, not their wars.”

Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter

Cut It Out (2004)

War

“If you are going to try, go all the way or don't even start. If you follow it you will be alive with the gods. It is the only good fight there is.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

God, Way

“I am troubled, immeasurably
by your eyes.
I am struck by the feather
of your soft reply.
The sound of glass
speaks quick, disdain
and conceals
what your eyes fight
to explain.”

Jim Morrison (1943–1971) lead singer of The Doors

Source: Wilderness: The Lost Writings, Vol. 1

“The proud person always wants to do the right thing, the great thing. But because he wants to do it in his own strength, he is fighting not with man, but with God.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

God, Personality

“I've been fighting my entire adult life for men and women everywhere to be equal and to be different. But there is one right I would not grant anyone. And that is the right to be indifferent.”

Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor

Life, Women, Men, Indifference

“CALVIN:
As usual goodness hardly puts up a fight.”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

“A conservative is a man who is too cowardly to fight and too fat to run.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

“Oh. "So the best way to fight you is to strip naked and attack?"
His eyes flashed with a wicked light. "Yes. You should try it and see what happens.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Burn for Me

Way, Light

“I do want your happiness. But the absence of fighting or hatred or desire also means the opposites do not exist either. No joy, no communion, no love. Only where there is disillusionment and depression and sorrow does happiness arise; without the despair of loss, there is no hope.”

Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Source: Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985), Chapter 32, Shadow in the Throes of Death
Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Context: First, about the mind. You tell me there is no fighting or hatred or desire in the Town. That this is a beautiful dream, and I do want your happiness. But the absence of fighting or hatred or desire also means the opposites do not exist either. No joy, no communion, no love. Only where there is disillusionment and depression and sorrow does happiness arise; without the despair of loss, there is no hope.

Love, Happiness, Hope, Loss