Quotes about combat
page 6

Jacque Fresco photo
Zakir Naik photo
Barack Obama photo
Barack Obama photo
Barack Obama photo

“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)

Barack Obama photo
Barack Obama photo
Augustus photo

“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.

Liliana Segre photo

“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).

Joseph Goebbels photo
Barack Obama photo
Jawaharlal Nehru photo
Jawaharlal Nehru photo
Viktor Orbán photo

“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

Joseph Goebbels photo
Anthony Fauci photo

“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

Martin Luther photo

“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

““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/

Ronald Reagan photo

“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)

Marcelo H. del Pilar photo

“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

Zafar Mirzo photo
Ahmad Shah Massoud photo

“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

Alex Morgan photo

“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)

Ayaz Mutallibov photo

“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)

George Harrison photo

“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).

Malcolm X photo
Stepan Bandera photo

“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)

Dolores Ibárruri photo
Kanye West photo
Vitali Klitschko photo

“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

George Orwell photo

“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.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien photo

“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

Teal Swan photo
Fidel Castro photo

“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

James Frey photo
Rebecca Solnit photo
Laurell K. Hamilton photo
Libba Bray photo
Albert Einstein photo
Albert Einstein photo

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

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Sherrilyn Kenyon photo
Neal Shusterman photo
Alice Sebold photo
Thomas Malory photo

“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''
Vincent Van Gogh photo

“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.

Lance Armstrong photo

“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

Ernest Hemingway photo

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

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

John Paul Jones photo

“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.”

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

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

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

Cecelia Ahern photo

“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

Rick Riordan photo
Robert Jordan photo
Charles Bukowski photo
Laurell K. Hamilton photo
Dan Brown photo
Brian Jacques photo

“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

Gertrude Stein photo
Cressida Cowell photo
Jean Vanier photo
Rick Riordan photo
Thich Nhat Hanh photo
Jasper Fforde photo
Sherrilyn Kenyon photo
Marianne Moore photo

“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

“Fight the fighters, not their wars.”

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

Cut It Out (2004)

Charles Bukowski photo
Jim Morrison photo
Sören Kierkegaard photo
Elie Wiesel photo
Elbert Hubbard photo

“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
Haruki Murakami photo

“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.”

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.

Oprah Winfrey photo
Stephen King photo
Rick Riordan photo

“I was a fight to the death, and I felt great.”

Source: The Red Pyramid

Scott Lynch photo