„When you smoke (ganja) you don't want to war.“

„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 American immunologist and head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 1940

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 creates its own intensity of hatred… You don't want to use force except as an absolute last resort.“

—  Wesley Clark American general and former Democratic Party presidential candidate 1944

Interview with Laura Knoy, New Hampshire Public Radio (5 November 2003) http://www.nhpr.org/node/5339

„War is over… If you want it.“

—  John Lennon English singer and songwriter 1940 - 1980

„You want a war? You better believe you got one!“

—  Alex Jones American radio host, author, conspiracy theorist and filmmaker 1974

"Alex Jones EPIC Anti-Globalist Rant" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHoc0FZG3OU, IncorporatedOps, February 13, 2017
2017

„You don't avoid such a war, you merely postpone it, to your own disadvantage.“

—  Niccolo Machiavelli, book The Prince

Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 3 (as translated by RM Adams)
Context: If someone puts up the argument that King Louis gave the Romagna to Pope Alexander, and the kingdom of Naples to Spain, in order to avoid a war, I would answer as I did before: that you should never let things get out of hand in order to avoid war. You don't avoid such a war, you merely postpone it, to your own disadvantage.

„I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace.“

—  George W. Bush 43rd President of the United States 1946

Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, D.C. http://www.hud.gov/news/speeches/presremarks.cfm (June 18, 2002)
2000s, 2002

„Ez fer war, I call it murder—
There you hev it plain an' flat;
I don't want to go no furder
Than my Testyment fer that.“

—  James Russell Lowell American poet, critic, editor, and diplomat 1819 - 1891

No. 1, st. 2
The Biglow Papers (1848–1866), Series I (1848)

„Why, of course, the people don't want war.“

—  Hermann Göring German politician and military leader 1893 - 1946

In an interview with Gilbert in Göring's jail cell during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials (18 April 1946) http://www.snopes.com/quotes/goering.asp
Nuremberg Diary (1947)
Context: p> Göring: Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.</p

„Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please.“

—  Niccolo Machiavelli, Florentine Histories

Comincionsi le guerre quando altri vuole, ma non quando altri vuole si finiscono.
Variant translation: Wars are begun at will but not ended at will.
Book III, Chapter 7.
Florentine Histories (1526)

„I went into the British Army believing that if you want peace you must prepare for war. I believe now that if you prepare thoroughly and efficiently for war, you get war.“

—  Frederick B. Maurice British Army general and historian 1871 - 1951

Speaking in Carnegie Hall, New York City, on 4 April 1919.

Context: As a soldier who has spent a quarter of his life in the study of the science of arms, let me tell you I went into the British Army believing that if you want peace you must prepare for war. I believe now that if you prepare thoroughly and efficiently for war, you get war.

„I want war. To me all means will be right. My motto is not "Don't, whatever you do, annoy the enemy." My motto is "Destroy him by all and any means." I am the one who will wage the war!“

—  Adolf Hitler Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party 1889 - 1945

As quoted in Hitler and Nazism (1961) by Louis Leo Snyder, p. 66
Other remarks

„I ask you: Do you want total war? If necessary, do you want a war more total and radical than anything that we can even yet imagine?“

—  Joseph Goebbels, Sportpalast speech

Ich frage euch: Wollt ihr den totalen Krieg? Wollt ihr ihn, wenn nötig, totaler und radikaler, als wir ihn uns heute überhaupt erst vorstellen können?
Sportpalast speech, 18 February 1943
1940s

„If you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq.“

—  Rand Paul American politician, ophthalmologist, and United States Senator from Kentucky 1963

2015-09-16
CNN REAGAN LIBRARY DEBATE: Later Debate Full Transcript
CNN
http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2015/09/16/cnn-reagan-library-debate-later-debate-full-transcript/
2010s

„War is failure! When you are at war, you have failed! When you have gone to a war of choice and lied about it, you're a double-triple, triple-quadruple failure!“

—  Janeane Garofalo comedian, actress, political activist, writer 1964

Majority Report, July 22, 2005 broadcast
Majority Report
Context: You know George W. Bush is a war-time president, he says - proudly. Guess what. War is failure! When you are at war, you have failed! When you have gone to a war of choice and lied about it, you're a double-triple, triple-quadruple failure! Or a warlord. It's called a warlord in other countries. A war time president here. One man's ceiling I guess is another man's floor. George Bush is a warlord. He's a failure!

„How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism?“

—  Howard Zinn author and historian 1922 - 2010

„How can you be a survivor, when you can't even remember the war?“

—  Jodi Picoult Author 1966

Source: Vanishing Acts

„When we say "War is over if you want it," we mean that if everyone demanded peace instead of another TV set, we'd have peace.“

—  John Lennon English singer and songwriter 1940 - 1980

During the Bed-In for Peace in Montreal, Canada (1 June 1969)

„You don't have to war with a woman, you just get lost. Better to make love.“

—  Prevale Italian DJ and producer 1983

Original: Non ti conviene fare la guerra con una donna, ci perdi e basta. Meglio farci l'amore.

„You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about.“

—  William T. Sherman American General, businessman, educator, and author. 1820 - 1891

Comments to Prof. David F. Boyd at the Louisiana State Seminary (24 December 1860), as quoted in The Civil War : A Book of Quotations (2004) by Robert Blaisdell. Also quoted in The Civil War: A Narrative (1986) by Shelby Foote, p. 58.
1860s, 1860
Context: You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about. War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it … Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth — right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail.