This is often attributed to U.S. Senator Hiram Johnson, but does not appear anywhere in his speeches. Arthur Ponsonby#Falsehood in Wartime (1928) quoted: "When war is declared, Truth is the first casualty", but the first recorded use seems to be by Philip Snowden in his introduction to Truth and the War, by E. D. Morel. London, July 1916: "'Truth,' it has been said, 'is the first casualty of war.'" Samuel Johnson#The Idler (1758–1760) expressed a similar idea: "Among the calamities of war may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages."
Misattributed
— Theodore Dalrymple English doctor and writer 1949
It is the inescapable duty of every decent citizen to express no interest in or enthusiasm for football and the World Cup http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000966.php (June 7, 2006).
The Social Affairs Unit (2006 - 2008)
— Vince Flynn, book Executive Power
Source: Executive Power
— Hiram Johnson Governor of California 1866 - 1945
Widely attributed to Johnson, but without any confirmed citations of original source: "The first casualty when war comes is truth," remarked Hiram Johnson, "and whenever an individual nation seeks to coerce by force of arms another, it always acts, and insists that it acts in self-defense" (Locomotive Engineers Journal, February 1929, p. 109). Arthur Ponsonby earlier said: "When war is declared, Truth is the first casualty", but the first recorded use seems to be by Philip Snowden in his introduction to Truth and the War, by E. D. Morel. London, July 1916: "'Truth,' it has been said, 'is the first casualty of war.'" Samuel Johnson expressed a similar idea: "Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages." Cf. Aeschylus#Misattributed.
Attributed
— Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden British politician 1864 - 1937
Introduction to Truth and the War, by E. D. Morel. London, July 1916. p. ix books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=gQFIAAAAIAAJ&q=casualty. p. xiii in the 3rd edition 1918 archive.org http://www.archive.org/stream/truthwar00more#page/n17/mode/2up (cf. Aeschylus#Misattributed)
Hiram Johnson is often credited with this statement, or something similar. However, Snowden's use appears to have predated those of Johnson while being more consistent with the now-common, "Truth is the first casualty of war."
— Arthur Ponsonby British Liberal and later Labour politician and pacifist 1871 - 1946
http://books.google.de/books?id=T2OsAAAAMAAJ&q=%22declared,+truth+is+the+first%22&dq=%22declared,+truth+is+the+first%22&hl=de&sa=X&ei=NNNeT5XTNoSi4gTpuOnRBw&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAQ books.google
This famous quotation is similar to the one Philip Snowden used in his introduction to Truth and the War, by E. D. Morel. London, July 1916: "'Truth,' it has been said, 'is the first casualty of war.'" Samuel Johnson#The Idler (1758-1760) expressed a similar idea: "Among the calamities of war may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages." Cf. Aeschylus#Misattributed.
Falsehood in Wartime (1928)
— Steve Perry American writer 1947
Source: The Ramal Extraction (2012), Chapter 12
— Gabriel García Márquez, book The General in His Labyrinth
Source: The General in His Labyrinth
— John Kenneth Galbraith American economist and diplomat 1908 - 2006
Source: Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went (1975), Chapter VIII, The Great Compromise, p. 92
— Kirby Page American clergyman 1890 - 1957
Must We Go to War? (1937)
— L. Neil Smith American writer 1946
"Empire of Lies" Presented to the Libertarian Party of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 15 June 2003 http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2003/libe228-20030622-01.html.
— Steve Maraboli 1975
Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 52
— Alberto Gonzales 80th United States Attorney General 1955
in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, December 31, 2008 http://www.time.com/time/quotes/0,26174,1869189,00.html.
— Al Capone American gangster 1899 - 1947
The Bootleggers
— Yitzhak Rabin Israeli politician, statesman and general 1922 - 1995
Speech to the US Congress (26 July 1994)
Context: I, serial number 30743, Lieutenant General in reserves Yitzhak Rabin, a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces and in the army of peace, I, who have sent armies into fire and soldiers to their death, say today: We sail onto a war which has no casualties, no wounded, no blood nor suffering. It is the only war which is a pleasure to participate in — the war for peace.
— Bashar al-Assad President of Syria 1965
Interview with Bill Neely https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45odEv_1DAY (July 2016) on " NBC: Exclusive Interview with Bashar al-Assad https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/syria-s-president-bashar-al-assad-speaks-nbc-news-n608746"
— Boris Yeltsin 1st President of Russia and Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR 1931 - 2007
Interview on Zerkalo http://web.archive.org/web/20021117080050/http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/6011-5.cfm (RTR) (29 December 2001)
2000s
Context: It looks as if some people either have a short memory and are forgetting about that time and the events that occurred then … Let us recall the putsch of August 19, 1991. It was after the putsch that the republics began, one after another, to declare their independence.
Russia also declared its independence. This was approved by the Supreme Soviet, and you know and remember that there was the Declaration on the Independence of Russia. So, the entire course of history was leading to a point when the regime, the political regime in the country had to be changed. It demonstrated that the Union was not as strong as this was loudly preached by mass media and the propaganda in general. The republics wished to become independent. This must only be welcomed... We have good peaceful relations and there were no military clashes. None of these countries had revolutions with bloody casualties and there was no civil war in any of the republics... Russia had to change and it did change.
— Bruce Fein American lawyer 1947
Lies, Damn Lies, and Armenian Deaths (2009)
— Sergey Lavrov Russian politician and Foreign Minister 1950
Saying that NATO's interference in Libya caused more casualties {December 2011) http://rt.com/politics/lavrov-nato-libya-victims-201/
— Christopher Hitchens British American author and journalist 1949 - 2011
Scotland Live (2005-10-31): On the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2000s, 2005
— Fidel Castro former First Secretary of the Communist Party and President of Cuba 1926 - 2016
Camp Columbia, Havana (Jan. 8th, 1959), Fidel Castro Reader, pp. 133
