“War has been with us ever since the dawn of civilization. Nothing has been more constant in history than war.”

—  Robert Aumann

Source: War and peace (2005), p. 1

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "War has been with us ever since the dawn of civilization. Nothing has been more constant in history than war." by Robert Aumann?
Robert Aumann photo
Robert Aumann 16
Israeli-American mathematician 1930

Related quotes

“The manufacture of foreign crisis and war hysteria has been used since the beginning of history to suppress threats to class rule.”

Kevin Carson (1963) American academic

"The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand: Capitalism As a State-Guaranteed System of Privilege" (2011)

Victor Hugo photo

“Whether we be Italians or Frenchmen, misery concerns us all. Ever since history has been written, ever since philosophy has meditated, misery has been the garment of the human race; the moment has at length arrived for tearing off that rag, and for replacing, upon the naked limbs of the Man-People, the sinister fragment of the past with the grand purple robe of the dawn.”

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist

Italiens ou français, la misère nous regarde tous. Depuis que l'histoire écrit et que la philosophie médite, la misère est le vêtement du genre humain; le moment serait enfin venu d'arracher cette guenille, et de remplacer, sur les membres nus de l'Homme-Peuple, la loque sinistre du passé par la grande robe pourpre de l'aurore.
Letter To M. Daelli on Les Misérables (1862)

“No ruler in the history of the world has ever been able to afford a war. They're not affordable things. No prince ever says, 'This is my budget, so this is the kind of war I can have.”

Hilary Mantel book Wolf Hall

Source: Wolf Hall

William Saroyan photo

“Nothing has ever been more sure-fire than truth and integrity.”

William Saroyan (1908–1981) American writer

My Heart's in the Highlands (1939)

Nikolai Bukharin photo

“The Red Army has been created by the workers for the struggle with the White Army of capital. The Red Army issued out the civil war; it will disappear when a complete victory has been gained in the war, when class has been abolished when the dictatorship of the proletariat has lapsed.”

Nikolai Bukharin (1888–1938) Soviet politician

Source: ABC's of Communism, Ch.8, pp. 268

Mao Zedong photo

“"War is the continuation of politics." In this sense war is politics and war itself is a political action; since ancient times there has never been a war that did not have a political character.”

Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

(zh-CN) “战争是政治的继续”，在这点上说，战争就是政治，战争本身就是政治性质的行动，从古以来没有不带政治性的战争。
1930s, On Protracted Warfare (1938)

John F. Kennedy photo

“I do not say that a world without aggression or threats of war would be an easy world. It will bring new problems, new challenges from the Communists, new dangers of relaxing our vigilance or of mistaking their intent. But those dangers pale in comparison to those of the spiraling arms race and a collision course towards war. Since the beginning of history, war has been mankind’s constant companion.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

1963, Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty speech
Context: I do not say that a world without aggression or threats of war would be an easy world. It will bring new problems, new challenges from the Communists, new dangers of relaxing our vigilance or of mistaking their intent. But those dangers pale in comparison to those of the spiraling arms race and a collision course towards war. Since the beginning of history, war has been mankind’s constant companion. It has been the rule, not the exception. Even a nation as young and as peace-loving as our own has fought through eight wars.

Henry George photo

“Trade has ever been the extinguisher of war, the eradicator of prejudice, the diffuser of knowledge.”

Henry George (1839–1897) American economist

Source: Protection or Free Trade? (1886), Ch. 6

John F. Kennedy photo

“Now, in the thermonuclear age, any misjudgment on either side about the intentions of the other could rain more devastation in several hours than has been wrought in all the wars of human history.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

1961, Berlin Crisis speech

“That kind of therapy, the use of force to make a man give up his convictions, has been tried since the dawn of history. I think we should have learned by now that it won’t work.”

Mark Clifton book They'd Rather Be Right

Source: They'd Rather Be Right (1954), p. 130.

Related topics