„In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility; but when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard-favor'd rage.“

„With equal rage, as when the southern wind,
Meeteth in battle strong the northern blast.“

—  Torquato Tasso Italian poet 1544 - 1595

Canto IX, stanza 52 (tr. Fairfax)
Gerusalemme Liberata (1581)
Original: (co) Come pari d'ardir, con forza pare
Quinci Austro in guerra vien, quindi Aquilone.

„War rages, horrid war
Even in our bones; our double nature sounds
With armèd discord.“

—  Prudentius, book Psychomachia

Fervent bella horrida, fervent
ossibus inclusa fremit et discordibus armis
non simplex natura hominis.
Psychomachia, line 902; translation from C. S. Lewis The Allegory of Love (London: Oxford University Press, [1936] 1975) p. 72.
Original: (la) Fervent bella horrida, fervent
ossibus inclusa fremit et discordibus armis
non simplex natura hominis.

„The essential job is to get people to recognise war propaganda when they see it, especially when it is disguised as peace propaganda.“

—  George Orwell English author and journalist 1903 - 1950

Review of The Men I Killed by Brigadier-General F. P. Crozier, CB, CMG, DSO, in New Statesman and Nation (28 August 1937)

„As the war rages on in Afghanistan and—despite spin to the contrary—in Iraq as well, or journalistic scrutiny. The actions and consequences of these wars is seldom discussed in public or investigated by the Congress. The current US strategy can be summed up as follows: We are trying to kill our way to peace. And the killing fields are growing in number.“

—  Jeremy Scahill American journalist 1974

„Rage is for beasts, but shining peace for man.“

—  Ovid, book Ars amatoria

Book III, line 502 (tr. Len Krisak)
Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love)
Original: (la) Candida pax homines, trux decet ira feras.

„It is the oldest ironies that are still the most satisfying: man, when preparing for bloody war, will orate loudly and most eloquently in the name of peace.“

—  Alan Moore, book Watchmen

Source: Watchmen

„This is he.
This is the man they ate at the green table
Putting their gloves on ere they touched the meat.
This is the fruit of war, the fruit of peace,
The ripeness of invention, the new lamb,
The answer to the wisdom of the wise.
And still he hangs, and still he will not die
And still, on the steel city of our years
The light falls and the terrible blood streams down.“

—  Stephen Vincent Benét poet, short story writer, novelist 1898 - 1943

Litany for Dictatorships (1935)
Context: For the man crucified on the crossed machine guns
Without name, without resurrection, without stars,
His dark head heavy with death and his flesh long sour
With the smell of his many prisons — John Smith, John Doe,
John Nobody — oh, crack your mind for his name!
Faceless as water, naked as the dust,
Dishonored as the earth the gas-shells poison
And barbarous with portent.
This is he.
This is the man they ate at the green table
Putting their gloves on ere they touched the meat.
This is the fruit of war, the fruit of peace,
The ripeness of invention, the new lamb,
The answer to the wisdom of the wise.
And still he hangs, and still he will not die
And still, on the steel city of our years
The light falls and the terrible blood streams down.

„Corn is the sinews of war.“

—  Francois Rabelais, book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Gargantua (1534), Chapter 46.

„It would be as natural for a full-grown tiger to mew as for a man released from the slavery of imitations ever to go back to his neighbor again with: “What do you think of this? What do you advise about that?”“

—  Henry S. Haskins 1875 - 1957

Source: Meditations in Wall Street (1940), p. 52

„Endless money forms the sinews of war.“

—  Marcus Tullius Cicero Roman philosopher and statesman -106 - -43 BC

„In reality there is perhaps no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself. You will see it perhaps often in this History. For even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my Humility.“

—  Benjamin Franklin American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, a… 1706 - 1790

Part II, p. 76
Written in Passy (1784), Ch. VI
The Autobiography (1818)

„For all that faire is, is by nature good;
That is a signe to know the gentle blood.“

—  Edmund Spenser English poet 1552 - 1599

An Hymne in Honour of Beautie, line 139

„Men endured so much for war, but for peace they dared nothing.“

—  Olaf Stapledon British novelist and philosopher 1886 - 1950

Source: The Seed and the Flower

„Choking with dry tears and raging, raging, raging at the absolute indifference of nature and the world to the death of love, the death of hope and the death of beauty, I remember sitting on the end of my bed, collecting these pills and capsules together and wondering why, why when I felt I had so much to offer, so much love, such outpourings of love and energy to spend on the world, I was incapable of being offered love, giving it or summoning the energy with which I knew I could transform myself and everything around me.“

—  Stephen Fry, book Moab Is My Washpot

Source: Moab Is My Washpot

„All wars are civil ones; for it is still man spilling his own blood, tearing out his own bowels.“

—  François Fénelon Catholic bishop 1651 - 1715

Toutes les guerres sont civiles; car c'est toujours l'homme contre l'homme qui répand son propre sang, qui déchire ses propres entrailles.
Dialogues des morts, ch. 17, cited from De l'éducation des filles, Dialogues des morts et opuscules divers (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1857) p. 149; translation from Mr. Elphingston (trans.) Dialogues of the Dead, Together with Some Fable Composed for the Education of a Prince (Glasgow: Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1754) vol. 1, p. 87. (1700).

„Give me a little peace.
A little? Why so modest? How about eternal peace? Now, there's a thought.“

—  James Goldman, The Lion in Winter

Source: The Lion in Winter

„To cut off concepts means to let our mental fabrications disband, to let our trains of thought disband. We sit in meditation, making the body and mind quiet. When the body is still, the mind stays with the stillness. When the heart is at peace, the mind stays with the peace. Concentration develops. The mind comes up to the forefront. Mental fabrications disappear, but the mind is still there. Goodness is still there. In nibbāna, nothing disappears anywhere or gets annihilated, except for unawareness.“

—  Ajahn Lee 1907 - 1961

Inner Strength (1956), as translated from the Thai by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

„As the war rages on in Afghanistan and—despite spin to the contrary—in Iraq as well, US Special Operations Forces and the Central Intelligence Agency are engaged in parallel, covert, shadow wars that are waged in near total darkness and largely away from effective or meaningful Congressional oversight or journalistic scrutiny. The actions and consequences of these wars is seldom discussed in public or investigated by the Congress. The current US strategy can be summed up as follows: We are trying to kill our way to peace. And the killing fields are growing in number.“

—  Jeremy Scahill American journalist 1974

[Jeremy Scahill Testifies Before Congress on America's Secret Wars, The Nation, http://www.thenation.com/blog/156977/jeremy-scahill-testifies-congress-americas-secret-wars#, December 9, 2010, January 2, 2013]

„Peace with Germany and Japan on our terms will not bring much rest to you and me (if I am still responsible). As I observed last time, when the war of the giants is over, the war of the pygmies will begin.“

—  Winston S. Churchill Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1874 - 1965

Telegram to FDR, March 18, 1945 http://www.churchillarchiveforschools.com/themes/the-themes/anglo-american-relations/just-how-special-was-the-special-relationship-in-the-Second-World-War-Part-2-1942-44/the-sources/source-7
Post-war years (1945–1955)