“Truth is not the first casualty of war alone: it is the first casualty of populism.”
Theodore Dalrymple (1949) English doctor and writer
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). <br class="br">The Social Affairs Unit (2006 - 2008)
“I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror.”
Alberto Gonzales (1955) 80th United States Attorney General
in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, December 31, 2008 http://www.time.com/time/quotes/0,26174,1869189,00.html.
Rudy Giuliani (1944–2001) American businessperson and politician, former mayor of New York City
When asked to estimate the number of casualties terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, at a news conference (11 September 2001) http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/11/bn.42.html; this is often misquoted as "More than we can bear."
John Irving (1942) American novelist and screenwriter
Interview in Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews (1988)
Bashar al-Assad (1965) President of Syria
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"
“I've been accused of every death except the casualty list of the World War.”
Al Capone (1899–1947) American gangster
The Bootleggers
“In war, truth is the first casualty.”
Aeschylus (-525–-456 BC) ancient Athenian playwright
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
“Freedom is often the first casualty of war.”
Gabriel García Márquez book The General in His Labyrinth
Source: The General in His Labyrinth
“We're not going to have any casualties.”
George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States
Pat Robertson claims that Bush said this to him in Nashville, Tennessee before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. Bush campaign advisor Karen Hughes, who was not working in Washington at the time of the invasion, claimed in 2004 that Bush did not say this. See John King (2004-10-21), " No casualties? White House disputes Robertson comment http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/19/robertson.bush.iraq/index.html," CNN.com. <br class="br">Attributed, Disputed
