Quotes about combat
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“But she wasn’t around, and that’s the thing when your parents die, you feel like instead of going in to every fight with backup, you are going into every fight alone.”

Mitch Albom For One More Day

Source: For One More Day

Feeling, Parent, For Parents

“Ender didn't like fighting. He didn't like Peter's kind, the strong against the weak, and he didn't like his own kind either, the smart against the stupid.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

Stupidity, Strong

“Yay!' he said. 'Now we can eat peanut butter sandwiches and ride fish ponies! We can fight monsters and see Annabeth and make things go BOOM!”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

Fish

“And we must fight back! President Snow says he's sending us a message? Well, I have one for him. You can torture us and bomb us and burn our districts to the ground, but do you see that? Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Katniss (pp. 105-106)
Source: The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay (2010)
Context: "I want to tell the rebels that I am alive. That I'm right here in District Eight, where the Capitol has just bombed a hospital full of unarmed men, women, and children. There will be no survivors. [... ] I want to tell people that if you think for one second the Capitol will treat us fairly if there's a cease-fire, you're deluding yourself. Because you know who they are and what they do. [... ] This is what they do! And we must fight back! [... ] President Snow says he's sending us a message? Well, I have one for him. You can torture us and bomb us and burn our districts to the ground, but do you see that?" We're with the camera, tracking to the planes burning on the roof of the warehouse. Tight on the Capitol seal on a wing, which melts back into the image of my face, shouting at the president. "Fire is catching! And if we burn... you burn with us!"

“I will fight any battle for you, crush any adversity. Because you are mine, beautiful girl. I love you so madly that the past before you feels sane…”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Lothaire

Love, Beauty, Feeling, Girl

“Even a cornered rabbit will fight with teeth and claws.”

Alison Goodman (1966) Australian science-fiction writer

Source: Eon: Dragoneye Reborn

“One must fight to get to the top, especially if one starts at the bottom.”

Franz Kafka book The Castle

Source: The Castle (1926)

“That might be nice, an extra pair of arms," Jace said. "Handy in a fight."
"Not if they're growing out of your…" Dorothea paused and smiled, not without malice. "Neck.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Smile

“No, thank you," said Adrian. "These hands don't sully themselves with fighting.”

Richelle Mead Bloodlines

Source: Bloodlines

“This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Variant: And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected.
Source: East of Eden (1952)
Context: And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.
Context: Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in art, in music, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.
And now the forces marshaled around the concept of the group have declared a war of extermination on that preciousness, the mind of man. By disparagement, by starvation, by repressions, forced direction, and the stunning blows of conditioning, the free, roving mind is being pursued, roped, blunted, drugged. It is a sad suicidal course our species seems to have taken.
And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for it is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost.

World, Freedom

“On the plus side, if he ever had to fight through a roomful of adolescent girls, he only needed to blink (his velvet brown eyes framed in embarassingly long lashes) a few times, and they would all faint.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Burns

Girl, Time

“Death did not play favorites—He loved all equally.
What you cannot escape, you must fight; what you cannot fight, you must endure.
The god's voice—not quite words, just a thread of meaning laid in my receptive mind”

Lilith Saintcrow (1976) American writer

Source: Dead Man Rising

Love, Death, God

“This must be what an addict feels like, I think,
trying to fight the pull of one last, quick read. My fingers itch toward the binding, and finally, with a sigh of regret, I just grab the book and open it, hungrily reading the story.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Between the Lines

Books, Feeling, Thinking, Reading

“In a way fighting was just like using magic. You said the words, and they altered the universe. By merely speaking you could create damage and pain, cause tears to fall, drive people away, make yourself feel better, make your life worse.”

Lev Grossman The Magicians

Source: The Magicians

Life, Pain, People, Way

“A beautiful battle is one you don't have to fight.”

Robert Jordan The Wheel of Time

Mat Cauthon
(11 October 2005)
Source: Knife of Dreams

Beauty

“Something will be offensive to someone in every book, so you've got to fight it.”

Judy Blume (1938) American children's writer

Books

“Anger prepares us to fight and fear prepares us to flee.”

Chip Heath (1963) American writer

Source: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Fear, Anger

“Doing nothing is opting for the sweetness of stillness… Instead of fighting with that which you cannot control, you might as well just see it through…”

Elizabeth Wurtzel (1967–2020) American author and journalist

Source: Radical Sanity: Commonsense Advice for Uncommon Women

“It’s the things you fight for and struggle with before earning that have the greatest worth.”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

Source: Along for the Ride

“I prayed the monsters would give up. Or that perhaps Philip of Macedonia would climb back to the terrace (do crocodiles climb?) and renew the fight.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

“I start to think there really is no cure for depression, that happiness is an ongoing battle, and I wonder if it isn't one I'll have to fight for as long as I live. I wonder if it's worth it.”

Elizabeth Wurtzel book Prozac Nation

Source: Prozac Nation

Happiness, Thinking

“Evil exists in us all, Torak. Some fight it. Some feed it. That's how it's always been.”

Michelle Paver (1960) English children's fiction writer

Evil

“In youth there are always two forces fighting in people. The warm unthinking little animal struggles against the thing that reflects and remembers”

Sherwood Anderson book Winesburg, Ohio

Source: Winesburg, Ohio

People, Youth, Animals

“An unprovoked head butt is like bringing a sawed-off shotgun to a knife fight.”

Lee Child (1954) British thriller writer

“You see how it is with us? You can't fight it any more than I can. You've tried; you've done everything you can to kill it. But you can't kill my love for you.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: The Chase

Love

“If you give me wings
I will soar for you

Even if this whole land
Sinks down to the water

If you give me a sword
I will fight for you

Even if this whole sky
Shoots through with your light”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Light, Water

“I don’t think man was meant to attain happiness so easily. Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Happiness, Thinking

“I had to fight so hard not to cry.”

Julie Anne Peters (1952) American writer

Source: By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

Cry

“The poor go to war, to fight and die for the delights, riches, and superfluities of others.”

Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher

War

“The first rule of fight club is, you don't talk about fight club.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

“I was told once that the most important part of a fight is making sure your opponent looks worse than you do when you’re through.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: A Night Like This

Parting

“I wondered again why the right thing always seemed to be met with so much resistance, when you'd think it would be the easier path. You had to fight to be virtuous…”

Sarah Dessen (1970) American writer

Source: Someone Like You (1998)

Thinking

“I would love to have a battle of wits with you, Bison, but I doubt it would be a fair fight.'
'Shut your face.'
'Exactly my point.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Death Bringer

Love

“If there is a war to be fought, we don’t consider cost one of the factors in deciding whether or not to fight.”

Philip Pullman book Northern Lights

Source: The Golden Compass

War

“I have tried to keep memory alive… I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices.”

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

Memory, Forgetting

“I’ll tell you what I’m fighting for. Not for England, nor her allies, nor any patriotic cause. It’s all come down to the hope of being with you..”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Love in the Afternoon

Hope

“It's good not to be the only girl in the fight for once.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Bullet

Source: Bullet

Girl

“If a grasshopper tries to fight a lawnmower, one may admire his courage but not his judgement.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Farnham's Freehold

Source: Farnham's Freehold (1964), Chapter 16 (p. 235)

Courage

“Anything worth having is worth fighting for.”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Heaven, Texas

“If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one's chances of survival increase with each book one reads.”

Sherman Alexie (1966) Native American author and filmmaker

Books, Chance, Reading

“One can't fight with oneself, for this battle has only one loser.”

Mario Vargas Llosa book Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter

Source: Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter

“The shreiking fight or the out-of-character insult endures forever, while the daily sweetness dissolves like sugar in water.”

Mary Karr (1955) American writer

Source: Lit

Water

“Shave that jaw, brush that hair, tone down the crazy in the eyes, and he would have to fight women off with that crossbow.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Burns

Women

“Why do I feel like I can't trust you anymore?'

I wanted him to lash out. I wanted him to fight, to protest, to argue- to do anything but look deeper into my eyes and say, 'because the Gallagher Academy doesn't admit fools”

Ally Carter book Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Source: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Fools, Feeling

“Love is never a fulfillment. Life is never a thing of continuous bliss. There is no paradise. Fight and laugh and feel bitter and feel bliss: and fight again. Fight, fight. That is life.”

D.H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter

Love, Life, Feeling

“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.”

Brad Meltzer (1970) writer

“‎It isn't enough to stand up and fight darkness. You've got to stand apart from it, too. You've got to be different from it.”

Jim Butcher book Fool Moon

Source: Fool Moon

“There in that pool stained with green blood, he had learned two things: one was that all the pain stopped when you stopped fighting death; and the other was that as long as you could still hear your heart beating, you had to keep fighting back.”

Ryū Murakami book Coin Locker Babies

Source: Coin Locker Babies

Death, Pain, Learning, Heart

“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

This quote is widely attributed to Margaret Thatcher on various websites, and also appears in a number of books, including The Concise Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, Columbia University Press (1989), ed. Robert Andrews, p. 320 : ISBN 0231069901. 9780231069908 , but without any further source information such as date, location or any other context. <br class="br">One valid Thatcher quote which may be the basis for the version above appears in the Second Carlton Lecture http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105799 (‘Why Democracy Will Last’), delivered at the Carlton Club, London (November 26, 1984) : Mr. Chairman, each generation has to stand up for democracy. It can’t take anything for granted and may have to fight fundamental battles anew. You know that marvellous quotation from Goethe : ‘That which thy fathers bequeathed thee / Earn it anew if thou would possess it.’ <br class="br">Thatcher also expressed this thought in a Speech to Atlantic Bridge (May 14, 2003) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111266, delivered at the St. Regis Hotel, New York City : My friends, every generation has to fight anew the battle for liberty. <br class="br">Disputed

Motivational, Deep, Success, Leadership

“The fight isn't over until you win.”

Robin Hobb book Royal Assassin

Source: Royal Assassin

“It is like putting a dehumidifier and a humidifier in the same room and letting them fight it out.”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

“We've finally given liberals a war against fundamentalism, and they don't want to fight it. They would, except it would put them on the same side as the United States.”

Ann Coulter (1961) author, political commentator

War

“If you come to a fight thinking it will be a fair one, you didn't come prepared.”

F. Paul Wilson (1946) novelist

Thinking

“No, I'm not mistaken. I know you don't love me. But I'm going to fight for your love. There are some things in life that are worth fighting for to the end. You are worth it.”

Paulo Coelho book By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Love, Life

“Ah, the prayers of the millions, how they must fight and destroy each other on their way to the throne of God.”

John Steinbeck book Tortilla Flat

Source: Tortilla Flat

God, Way

“You’re gonna be like Aquaman?” she asked. “Get the fish to fight for you?”

“Thanks,” Percy said. “I haven’t heard enough Aquaman jokes for one lifetime.”

Rick Riordan book The Hidden Oracle

Source: The Hidden Oracle

Fish

“[…]you don’t have to be Sun freakin Tzu to know that real fighting isn’t about killing or even hurting the other guy, it’s about scaring him enough to call it a day.”

Max Brooks book World War Z

Source: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Guy, Sun, Hurt

“Another werewolf thing. Like most animals, we spent a large part of our lives engaged in the three Fs of basic survival. Feeding, fighting and… reproduction.”

Kelley Armstrong book Stolen

Source: Stolen

Animals, Parting

“Nothing like ADHD and a good fight to the death to make time fly”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

Death, Time, Flying

“Then you must be willing to fight," Mircea responded. "Life is not a gift, Raphael; it's a challenge. Rise to it!”

Karen Chance American writer

Source: Curse the Dawn

Life

“Are we fighting?" I asked Morelli.
"No. Were discussing."
"Are you sure?"
"Am I yelling?" Morelli asked. "Is my face purple? Are the cords on my neck standing out? Am I waving my arms around?"
"No."
"The were not fighting.”

Janet Evanovich book Sizzling Sixteen

Source: Sizzling Sixteen

“If he's choosing not to make a simple effort that would put you at ease and bring harmony to a recurring fight, then he doesn't respect your feelings and needs.”

Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian

Source: He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys

Feeling, Effort

“Captain Jack: Rose, you are worth fighting for.
[Jack kisses Rose passionately]
Captain Jack: Wish I'd never met you, Doctor, I was much better off as a coward.
[Jack kisses the Doctor the same way]”

Russell T. Davies (1963) Screenwriter, former executive producer of Doctor Who

Way, Kiss, Passion

“Normally, as long as I'm telling him what to do, he wins in a fight.”

Rick Riordan book The Demigod Files

Source: The Demigod Files

“She killed Lorena in a fight?" Eric's grin grew even broader. He was as proud as if he'd heard his firstborn reciting Shakespeare.”

Charlaine Harris book Club Dead

Source: Club Dead

“I believe in the value of the book, which keeps something irreplaceable, and in the necessity of fighting to secure its respect.”

Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) French philosopher (1930-2004)

Source: Paper Machine

Books

“I was going to fight vampires, and my name wasn't Buffy--I was so screwed.”

Patricia Briggs book Frost Burned

Source: Frost Burned

“I'm fighting here, with everything I've got. Fight for me too.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Captivated by You

“I don’t expend my energy trying to fight the change of seasons. I focus on making sure the days I have, and the season I oversee, are as joyful, rich, and plentiful as possible.”

Rick Riordan book The Sword of Summer

Source: The Sword of Summer

Change, Season

“I have to.
I've been fighting it all night. I'm going to lose. My battle is as futile as a woman feeling the first pangs of labor and deciding it's an inconvenient time to give birth. Nature wins out. It always does.”

Kelley Armstrong book Bitten

Source: Bitten

Feeling, Birth, Nature, Time

“Rose is in red,
But never in blue,
Sharp as a thorn,
Fights like one too.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

“If this life be not a real fight, in which something is eternally gained for the universe by success, it is no better than a game of private theatricals from which one may withdraw at will. But it feels like a real fight.”

William James Is Life Worth Living?

"Is Life Worth Living?"
1890s, The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Life, Feeling, Game, Universe

“I am calm. That's why I can fight you!~Uryu Ishida”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

“We give all we have, lives, property, safety, skill… we fight, we die, for a simple thing. Only that a man can stand up.”

Esther Forbes book Johnny Tremain

Source: Johnny Tremain

“Whoa!" she says as I plow into her. " What are you DOING? Get off me!" I hang on tight. "Can't a girl just hug her big sister?" She stops fighting me. "Are you dying? Am I dying? Did Grandma die? I laugh. "No one died." "Then get off!”

Wendy Mass (1967) American children's writer

Source: 11 Birthdays

Girl, Sister, Grandma

“Most guys will fight to know you. Some guys will deny you're a real person, and some will just ignore you."
The zealot. The atheist. The agnostic.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Source: Invisible Monsters

Guy, Personality

“The road to hell was paved with the bones of men who did not know when to quit fighting.”

Paulette Jiles book Enemy Women

Source: Enemy Women

Men, Hell

“We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it.”

Billy Joel (1949) American singer-songwriter and pianist

We Didn't Start the Fire.
Song lyrics, Storm Front (1989)

World, Light

“There’s no point in fighting the tide. It ebbs. It flows. You ride it.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Iced

“Stop the excessive shopping and masturbation. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you're alive. If you don't claim your humanity, you will become a statistic.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

“The hardest battle you’re ever going to fight is the battle to be just you.”

Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) Motivational speaker, writer

Speaking Of Love (1980)
Variant: The hardest battle you are ever going to have to fight is the battle to be just you.

“A fight is like a fire. You think you have it under control, you think you can stop it whenever you want, but before you know it, it’s living, breathing thing and there’s no controlling it and you were a fool to think you could.”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: We'll Always Have Summer

Fools, Thinking

“If Sara had been a boy and lived a few centuries ago, her father used to say, 'she would have gone about the country with her sword drawn, rescuing and defending everyone in distress. She always wants to fight when she sees people in trouble.”

Frances Hodgson Burnett A Little Princess

Source: A Little Princess

People, Boy, Country

“Modern morality and manners suppress all natural instincts, keep people ignorant of the facts of nature and make them fighting drunk on bogey tales.”

Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) poet, mountaineer, occultist

Source: The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography
Source: The Confessions of Aleister Crowley (1929), Ch. 57.
Context: Modern morality and manners suppress all natural instincts, keep people ignorant of the facts of nature and make them fighting drunk on bogey tales. … Knowing nothing and fearing everything, they rant and rave and riot like so many maniacs. The subject does not matter. Any idea which gives them an excuse of getting excited will serve. They look for a victim to chivy, and howl him down, and finally lynch him in a sheer storm of sexual frenzy which they honestly imagine to be moral indignation, patriotic passion or some equally avowable emotion. It may be an innocent Negro, a Jew like Leo Frank, a harmless half-witted German; a Christ-like idealist of the type of Debs, an enthusiastic reformer like Emma Goldman or even a doctor whose views displease the Medial Trust.

People, Nature