Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
War
It would be superfluous in me to point out to your Lordship that this is war.
Charles Francis Adams—Despatch to Earl Russell. Sept. 5, 1863.
Both Regiments or none.
Samuel Adams—(For the Boston Town Meeting.) To Gov. Hutchinson, demanding the withdrawal of the British troops from Boston after March 5, 1776.
’Twas in Trafalgar’s bay
The saucy Frenchmen lay.
Samuel James Adams—Trafalgar Bay.
My voice is still for war.
Addison—Cato. Act II. Sc. 1.
From hence, let fierce contending nations know
What dire effects from civil discord flow.
Addison—Cato. Act V. Sc. 4.
Fighting men are the city’s fortress.
Alcæus—Fragment. XXII.
Fifty-four forty (54° 40´ N.), or fight.
Wm. Allen—In the U. S. Senate. On the Oregon Boundary Question. (1844).
And by a prudent flight and cunning save
A life, which valour could not, from the grave.
A better buckler I can soon regain;
But who can get another life again?
Archilochus—Fragm. VI. Quoted by Plutarch—Customs of the Lacedæmonians.
Let who will boast their courage in the field,
I find but little safety from my shield.
Nature’s, not honour’s, law we must obey:
This made me cast my useless shield away.
Another version of Archilochus.
Instead of breaking that bridge, we should, if possible, provide another, that he may retire the sooner out of Europe.
Aristides—Referring to the proposal to destroy Xerxes’ bridge of ships over the Hellespont. (“A bridge for a retreating army.”) See Plutarch—Life of Demosthenes.
If I am asked what we are fighting for, I can reply in two sentences. In the first place, to fulfil a solemn international obligation … an obligation of honor which no self-respecting man could possibly have repudiated. I say, secondly, we are fighting to vindicate the principle that small nationalities are not to be crushed in defiance of international good faith at the arbitrary will of a strong and overmastering Power.
Premier Asquith—Statement, to House of Commons, Declaration of War with Germany, August 4, 1914.
They shall not pass till the stars be darkened:
Two swords crossed in front of the Hun;
Never a groan but God has harkened,
Counting their cruelties one by one.
Katherine Lee Bates—Crossed Swords.
O great corrector of enormous times,
Shaker of o’er-rank states, thou grand decider
Of dusty and old titles, that healest with blood
The earth when it is sick, and curest the world
O’ the pleurisy of people.
Beaumont and Fletcher—The Two Noble Kinsmen. Act V. Sc. 1.
All quiet along the Potomac they say
Except now and then a stray picket
Is shot as he walks on his beat, to and fro,
By a rifleman hid in the thicket.
Ethel Lynn Beers—The Picket Guard. Claimed by Lamar Fontaine.
All quiet along the Potomac.
Proverbial in 1861–62. Supposed to have originated with Gen. McClellan.
She is a wall of brass;
You shall not pass! You shall not pass!
Spring up like Summer grass,
Surge at her, mass on mass,
Still shall you break like glass,
Splinter and break like shivered glass,
But pass?
You shall not pass!
Germans, you shall not, shall not pass!
God’s hand has written on the wall of brass—
You shall not pass! You shall not pass!
Harold Begbie—You Shall Not Pass. In N. Y. Tribune. July 2, 1916.
Carry on, carry on, for the men and boys are gone,
But the furrow shan’t lie fallow while the women carry on.
Janet Begbie—Carry On.
Gaily! gaily! close our ranks!
Arm! Advance!
Hope of France!
Gaily! gaily! close our ranks!
Onward! Onward! Gauls and Franks!
Béranger—Les Gaulois et François. C. L. Bett’s trans.
The inevitableness, the idealism, and the blessing of war, as an indispensable and stimulating law of development, must be repeatedly emphasized.
Bernhardi—Germany and the next War. Ch. I.
War is a biological necessity of the first importance, a regulative element in the life of mankind which cannot be dispensed with…. But it is not only a biological law but a moral obligation and, as such, an indispensable factor in civilization.
Bernhardi—Germany and the next War. Ch. I.
Our next war will be fought for the highest interests of our country and of mankind. This will invest it with importance in the world’s history. “World power or downfall” will be our rallying cry.
Bernhardi—Germany and the next War. Ch. VII.
We Germans have a far greater and more urgent duty towards civilization to perform than the Great Asiatic Power. We, like the Japanese, can only fulfil it by the sword.
Bernhardi—Germany and the next War. Ch. XIII.
L’affaire Herzegovinienne ne vaut pas les os d’un fusilier poméranien.
The Herzegovina question is not worth the bones of a Pomeranian fusileer.
Bismarck, (1875) during the struggle between the Christian provinces and Turkey, which led to the Russo-Turkish war. Another version is “The Eastern Question is not worth,” etc.
Lieber Spitzkugeln als Spitzreden.
Better pointed bullets than pointed speeches.
Bismarck—Speech, (1850), relative to Manteuffel’s dealings with Austria during the insurrection of the People of Hesse Cassel.
Ich sehe in unserm Bundesverhältnisse ein Gebrechen Preussens, welches wir früher oder später ferro et igne werden heilen müssen.
I see in our relations with our alliance a fault of Prussia’s, which we must cure sooner or later ferro et igne.
Bismarck—Letter to Baron von Schleinitz. May 12, 1859.
[The great questions of the day] are not decided by speeches and majority votes, but by blood and iron.
Bismarck—Declaration to the Prussian House of Delegates. Sept. 30, 1862. Same idea in Schenkendorf—Das Eiserne Kreuz.
What a place to plunder!
Field Marshal von Blücher’s comment on viewing London from St. Paul’s, after the Peace Banquet at Oxford, 1814. Same idea in Malcolm—Sketches of Persia. P. 232. Thackeray—Four Georges. George I, says: “The bold old Reiter looked down from St. Paul’s and sighed out, ‘Was für Plunder!’ The German women plundered; the German secretaries plundered; the German cooks and intendants plundered; even Mustapha and Mahomet, the German negroes, had a share of the booty.” The German quoted would be correctly translated “what rubbish!” Blücher, therefore, has been either misquoted or mistranslated.
It is magnificent, but it is not war.
General Pierre Bosquet. On the Charge of the Light Brigade. Attributed also to Marshal Canrobert.
He who did well in war just earns the right
To begin doing well in peace.
Robert Browning—Luria. Act II. L. 354.
The Government of the United States would be constrained to hold the Imperial German government to a strict accountability for such acts of their naval authorities.
W. J. Bryan—To the German government, when Secretary of State. European War Series of Depart. of State. No. I. P. 54.
Lay down the axe; fling by the spade;
Leave in its track the toiling plough;
The rifle and the bayonet-blade
For arms like yours were fitter now;
And let the hands that ply the pen
Quit the light task, and learn to wield
The horseman’s crooked brand, and rein
The charger on the battle-field.
Bryant—Our Country’s Call.
None of our soldiers would understand not being asked to do whatever is necessary to reestablish a situation which is humiliating to us and unacceptable to our country’s honor.—We are going to counter-attack.
Credited to Major-Gen. R. L. Bullard, also to Major-Gen. Omar Bundy, in reply to the French command to retire in the second battle of the Marne, 1918.
The American flag has been forced to retire. This is intolerable.
Major-Gen. R. L. Bullard, on leaving the Conference of French Generals, July 15, 1918. Expressing regret that he could not obey orders. He is called “The General of No Retreat.” See N. Y. Herald, Nov. 3, 1919. (Editorial).
You are there, stay there.
Major-Gen. R. L. Bullard. Citation to American unit which captured Fay’s Wood. See N. Y. Herald, Nov. 3, 1919. (Editorial).
If it were possible for members of different nationalities, with different language and customs, and an intellectual life of a different kind, to live side by side in one and the same state, without succumbing to the temptation of each trying to force his own nationality on the other, things would look a good deal more peaceful. But it is a law of life and development in history that where two national civilizations meet they fight for ascendancy. In the struggle between nationalities, one nation is the hammer and the other the anvil: one is the victor and the other the vanquished.
Bernhard von Bülow—Imperial Germany.
Justa bella quibus necessaria.
Wars are just to those to whom they are necessary.
Quoted by Burke—Reflections on the Revolution in France.
“War,” says Machiavel, “ought to be the only study of a prince”; and by a prince he means every sort of state, however constituted. “He ought,” says this great political doctor, “to consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes ability to execute military plans.”
Burke—Vindication of Natural Society. Vol. I. P. 15.
Scots, wha hae wi’ Wallace bled;
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to victory!
Burns—Bruce to his Men at Bannockburn.
Dieu est d’ordinaire pour les gros escadrons centre les petits.
God is generally for the big squadrons against the little ones.
Bussy-Rabutin—Letter. Oct. 18, 1677. Anticipated by Tacitus. Deus fortioribus adesse.
In all the trade of war, no feat
Is nobler than a brave retreat.
Butler—Hudibras. Pt. I. Canto III. L. 607.
For those that run away, and fly,
Take place at least o’ th’ enemy.
Butler—Hudibras. Pt. I. Canto III. L. 609.
There’s but the twinkling of a star
Between a man of peace and war.
Butler—Hudibras. Pt. II. Canto III. L. 957.
For those that fly may fight again,
Which he can never do that’s slain.
Butler—Hudibras. Pt. III. Canto III. L. 243.
For he who fights and runs away
May live to fight another day;
But he who is in battle slain
Can never rise and fight again.
Butler’s lines misquoted by Goldsmith in a publication of Newbery, the publisher, The Art of Poetry on a New Plan. Vol. II. P. 147. The first lines appear in Musarum Deliciæ. Collection by Sir John Mennis and Dr. James Smith. (1656). Accredited by some authorities to Suckling, but not confirmed by Mennis. “Oft he that doth abide / Is cause of his own paine, / But he that flieth in good tide / Perhaps may fight again.” A Pleasant Satyre or Poesie. From the French. (About 1595).
Bloody wars at first began,
The artificial plague of man,
That from his own invention rise,
To scourge his own iniquities.
Butler—Satire. Upon the Weakness and Misery of Man. L. 105.
O proud was our army that morning
That stood where the pine darkly towers,
When Sherman said—“Boys, you are weary,
This day fair Savannah is ours.”
Then sang we a song for our chieftain
That echoed o’er river and lea,
And the stars on our banner shone brighter
When Sherman marched down to the sea.
S. H. M. Byers—Sherman’s March to the Sea. Last stanza.
War, war is still the cry, “War even to the knife!”
Byron—Childe Harold. Canto I. St. 86.
And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed,
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car,
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war;
And the deep thunder peal on peal, afar
And near; the beat of the alarming drum
Roused up the soldier ere the morning star;
While throng’d the citizens with terror dumb,
Or whispering with white lips—“The foe! they come! they come!”
Byron—Childe Harold. Canto III. St. 25.
Battle’s magnificently stern array!
Byron—Childe Harold. Canto III. St. 28.
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold.
Byron—Destruction of Sennacherib.
Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen;
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay wither’d and strown!
Byron—Destruction of Sennacherib.
Hand to hand, and foot to foot:
Nothing there, save death, was mute;
Stroke, and thrust, and flash, and cry
For quarter or for victory,
Mingle there with the volleying thunder.
Byron—Siege of Corinth. St. 24.
Veni, vidi, vici.
I came, I saw, I conquered.
Attributed to Julius Cæsar. Plutarch—Life of Cæsar, states it was spoken after the defeat of Pharnaces, at Zela in Pontus,
In bello parvis momentis magni casus intercedunt.
In war events of importance are the result of trivial causes.
Cæsar—Bellum Gallicum. I. 21.
The combat deepens. On, ye brave,
Who rush to glory, or the grave!
Wave, Munich! all thy banners wave,
And charge with all thy chivalry.
Campbell—Hohenlinden.
La Garde meurt, mais ne se rend pas.
The guard dies but does not surrender.
Attributed to Lieut. Gen. Pierre Jacques, Baron de Cambronne, when called to surrender by Col. Hugh Halkett. Cambronne disavowed the saying at a banquet at Nantes, 1835. The London Times on the Centenary of the battle of Waterloo published a letter, written at 11
War will never yield but to the principles of universal justice and love, and these have no sure root but in the religion of Jesus Christ.
Wm. Ellery Channing—Lecture on War. Sec. II.
O Chryste, it is a grief for me to telle,
How manie a noble erle and valrous knyghte
In fyghtynge for Kynge Harrold noblie fell,
Al sleyne on Hastyng’s field in bloudie fyghte.
Chatterton—Battle of Hastings.
Bella suscipienda sunt ob eam causam, ut sine injuria in pace vivatur.
Wars are to be undertaken in order that it may be possible to live in peace without molestation.
Cicero—De Officiis. I. 11.
Parvi enim sunt foris arma, nisi est consilium domi.
An army abroad is of little use unless there are prudent counsels at home.
Cicero—De Officiis. I. 22.
Bellum autem ita suscipiatur, ut nihil aliud, nisi pax, quæsita videatur.
Let war be so carried on that no other object may seem to be sought but the acquisition of peace.
Cicero—De Officiis. I. 23.
Silent leges inter arma.
The law is silent during war.
Cicero—Oratio Pro Annio Milone. IV.
Pro aris et focis.
For your altars and your fires.
Cicero—Oration for Roscius. Ch. V. Also used by Tiberius Gracchus before this.
Nervi belli pecunia infinita.
Endless money forms the sinews of war.
Cicero—Philippics. V. 2. 5. Libanius—Orations. XLVI. Photius—Lex. 8. 5. Rabelais—Gargantua. Bk. I. Ch. XXVI. (“Corn” for “money.”)
Well here’s to the Maine, and I’m sorry for Spain,
Said Kelly and Burke and Shea.
J. I. C. Clarke—The Fighting Race.
We made war to the end—to the very end of the end.
Clemenceau—Message to American People. Sept., 1918.
What voice did on my spirit fall,
Peschiera, when thy bridge I crossed?
“’Tis better to have fought and lost,
Than never to have fought at all.”
Arthur H. Clough—Peschiera.
War in fact is becoming contemptible, and ought to be put down by the great nations of Europe, just as we put down a vulgar mob.
Mortimer Collins—Thoughts in my Garden. II. 243.
The flames of Moscow were the aurora of the liberty of the world.
Benj. Constant—Esprit de Conquête. Preface. (1813).
Hence jarring sectaries may learn
Their real interest to discern;
That brother should not war with brother,
And worry and devour each other.
Cowper—The Nightingale and Glow-Worm.
But war’s a game, which, were their subjects wise,
Kings would not play at.
Cowper—Task. Bk. V. L. 187.
General Taylor never surrenders.
Thos. L. Crittenden—Reply to Gen. Santa Anna. Buena Vista. Feb. 22, 1847.
We give up the fort when there’s not a man left to defend it.
General Croghan. At Fort Stevenson. (1812).
From fear in every guise,
From sloth, from love of pelf,
By war’s great sacrifice
The world redeems itself.
J. Davidson—War Song.
Qui fugiebat, rusus præliabitur.
The man who flies shall fight again.
Demosthenes, on his flight at the battle of Chæronea,
Di qui non si passa.
By here they shall not pass.
General Diaz. Words inscribed on the Altar of Liberty temporarily erected at Madison Square, N. Y., on the authority of Il Progresso Italiano.
Non si passa, passereme noi.
The words ascribed to General Diaz by the Italians at the battle of the Piave and Monta Grappa, June, 1918. These words are inscribed on the medals struck off for the heroes of this battle.
What argufies pride and ambition?
Soon or late death will take us in tow:
Each bullet has got its commission,
And when our time’s come we must go.
Charles Dibdin—The Benevolent Tar.
A feat of chivalry, fiery with consummate courage, and bright with flashing vigor.
Benj. Disraeli. Of the Charge of the Light Brigade. In the House of Commons, Dec. 15, 1855.
Carry his body hence!
Kings must have slaves:
Kings climb to eminence
Over men’s graves:
So this man’s eye is dim;
Throw the earth over him!
Henry Austin Dobson—Before Sedan.
They now to fight are gone;
Armor on armor shone:
Drum now to drum did groan,
To hear was wonder;
That with the cries they make,
The very earth did shake;
Trumpet to trumpet spake,
Thunder to thunder.
Drayton—Ballad of Agincourt. St. 8.
War, he sung, is toil and trouble;
Honour but an empty bubble.
Dryden—Alexander’s Feast. L. 99.
All delays are dangerous in war.
Dryden—Tyrannic Love. Act I. Sc. 1.
When ’tis an aven thing in th’ prayin’, may th’ best man win … an’ th’ best man will win.
Finley Peter Dunne—Mr. Dooley in Peace and War. On Prayers for Victory.
’Tis startin’ a polis foorce to prevint war…. How’ll they be ar-rmed? What a foolish question. They’ll be ar-rmed with love, if coorse. Who’ll pay thim? That’s a financyal detail that can be arranged later on. What’ll happen if wan iv th’ rough-necks reaches f’r a gun? Don’t bother me with thrifles.
Finley Peter Dunne—On Making a Will. Mr. Dooley’s version of W. J. Bryan’s Speech. (1920).
There is no discharge in that war.
Ecclesiastes. VIII. 8.
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurl’d;
Here once the embattl’d farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
Emerson—Hymn sung at the completion of the Concord Monument.
That same man that renneth awaie
Maie fight again on other daie.
Erasmus—Apothegms. Given as a saying of Demosthenes, and quoted as a “verse common in every body’s mouth.” Tr. by Udall. (1542).
Ares (the God of War) hates those who hesitate.
Euripides—Heraclidæ. 722.
Jellicoe has all the Nelsonic attributes except one—he is totally wanting in the great gift of insubordination.
Lord Fisher—Letter to a Privy Councillor. Dec. 27, 1916.
My right has been rolled up. My left has been driven back. My center has been smashed. I have ordered an advance from all directions.
Gen. Foch—Letter to Marshal Joffre during the Battle of the Marne.
Then came the attack in the Amiens sector on August 8. That went well, too. The moment had arrived. I ordered General Humbert to attack in his turn. “No reserves.” No matter. Allez-y (Get on with it) I tell Marshal Haig to attack, too. He’s short of men also. Attack all the same. There we are advancing everywhere—the whole line! En avant! Hup!
Gen. Foch. In an interview with G. Ward Price, correspondent of London Daily Mail. (1919).
All the same, the fundamental truths which govern that art are still unchangeable; just as the principles of mechanics must always govern architecture, whether the building be made of wood, stone, iron or concrete; just as the principles of harmony govern music of whatever kind. It is still necessary, then, to establish the principles of war.
Gen. Foch—Principles of War. From the preface written for the post-bellum edition.
I am going on to the Rhine. If you oppose me, so much the worse for you, but whether you sign an armistice or not, I do not stop until I reach the Rhine.
Gen. Foch to the Germans who came to ask for an armistice. As reported by G. Ward Price in the London Daily Mail. (1919).
Keep the home fires burning, while your hearts are yearning,
Tho’ your lads are far away they dream of home.
There’s a silver lining through the dark cloud shining;
Turn the dark cloud inside out till the boys come home.
Mrs. Lena Guilbert Ford. Theme suggested by Ivor Novello, who wrote the music. Sung by the soldiers in the Great War.
There never was a good war or a bad peace.
Benj. Franklin—Letter to Quincy. Sept. 11, 1773.
Your flaming torch aloft we bear,
With burning heart an oath we swear
To keep the faith, to fight it through,
To crush the foe or sleep with you
In Flanders’ fields.
C. B. Galbreath. Answer to McCrae’s In Flanders’ Fields.
When the red wrath perisheth, when the dulled swords fail,
These three who have walked with Death—these shall prevail.
Hell bade all its millions rise; Paradise sends three:
Pity, and Self-sacrifice, and Charity.
Theodosia Garrison—These shall Prevail.
Sufficeth this to prove my theme withal,
That every bullet hath a lighting place.
Gascoigne—Duke Bellum Inexpertis.
O, send Lewis Gordon hame
And the lad I maune name,
Though his back be at the wa’
Here’s to him that’s far awa’.
O, hon! my Highlandman,
O, my bonny Highlandman,
Weel would I my true love ken
Among ten thousand Highlandmen.
Accredited to Geddes—Lewis Gordon. In Scotch Songs and Ballads.
We have 500,000 reservists in America who would rise in arms against your government.
Zimmermann to Ambassador Gerard. “I told him that we had five hundred thousand and one lamp posts in America, and that was where the German reservists would find themselves if they tried any uprising.” Ambassador Gerard’s answer. Jakes W. Gerard—My Four Years in Germany. P. 237.
It is an olde saw, he fighteth wele (well) that fleith faste.
Gesta Romanorum. Wolf and the Hare. 15th cent. MS.
Neither ridiculous shriekings for revenge by French chauvinists, nor the Englishmen’s gnashing of teeth, nor the wild gestures of the Slavs will turn us from our aim of protecting and extending German influence all the world over.
Official secret report of the Germans, quoted in the French Yellow Book.
Ye living soldiers of the mighty war,
Once more from roaring cannon and the drums
And bugles blown at morn, the summons comes;
Forgot the halting limb, each wound and scar:
Once more your Captain calls to you;
Come to his last review!
R. W. Gilder—The Burial of Grant.
An attitude not only of defence, but defiance.
Thos. Gillespie—The Mountain Storm. “Defence not defiance” became the motto of the Volunteer Movement. (1859).
No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.
U. S. Grant—To Gen. S. B. Buckner. Fort Donelson. Feb. 16, 1862.
I***purpose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.
U. S. Grant—Despatch from Spottsylvania Court House. May 11, 1864.
The British army should be a projectile to be fired by the British navy.
Viscount Grey. Quoted by Lord Fisher, in Memories, as “the splendid words of Sir Edward Grey.”
Con disavvantaggio grande si fa la guerra con chi non ha che perdere.
We fight to great disadvantage when we fight with those who have nothing to lose.
Guicciardini—Storia d’Italia.
Every position must be held to the last man. There must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight to the end.
Field Marshal Haig. At the battle of Picardy. (1918). See also Geddes. Song probably well known to Haig.
Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown.
Thos. Hardy—The Man he Killed.
They were left in the lurch
For want of more wadding—He ran to the church—
******
With his arms full of hymnbooks …
Rang his voice, “Put Watts into ’em—Boys, give ’em Watts.”
Bret Harte—Caldwell of Springfield.
An hour ago, a Star was falling.
A star? There’s nothing strange in that.
No, nothing; but above the thicket,
Somehow it seemed to me that God
Somewhere had just relieved a picket.
Bret Harte—Relieving Guard.
Hark! I hear the tramp of thousands,
And of armèd men the hum;
Lo, a nation’s hosts have gathered
Round the quick alarming drum—
Saying, Come,
Freemen, Come!
Ere your heritage be wasted,
Said the quick alarming drum.
Bret Harte—The Rèveille.
Let the only walls the foe shall scale
Be ramparts of the dead!
Paul H. Hayne—Vicksburg.
My men never retire. They go forward or they die.
Col. William Hayward to a French General who cried to him to retire his troops, the 369th Infantry, colored. See N. Y. Herald. Feb. 3, 1919. Attributed also to Major Bundy, but denied by him.
Napoleon healed through sword and fire the sick nation.
Heine. See Scherer—History of German Literature. II. 116.
Hang yourself, brave Crillon. We fought at Arques, and you were not there.
Henry IV, to Crillon after a great victory. Sept. 20, 1597. Appeared in a note to Voltaire’s Henriade. VIII. 109.
Just for a word—“neutrality,” a word which in war-time had so often been disregarded—just for a scrap of paper, Great Britain was going to make war on a kindred nation who desired nothing better than to be friends with her.
Bethmann-Hollweg, German Chancellor, to Sir Edward Goschen, British Ambassador, Aug. 4, 1914.
Bleak are our shores with the blasts of December,
Fettered and chill is the rivulet’s flow;
Throbbing and warm are the hearts that remember
Who was our friend when the world was our foe.
Holmes—Welcome to the Grand Duke Alexis, Dec. 6, 1871. Referring to the fleet sent by Russia in Sept., 1863, an act with mixed motives, but for which we were grateful.
I war not with the dead.
Homer—Iliad. Bk. VII. L. 485. Pope’s trans. Charles V. Of Luther. Found in W. L. Hertslet—Der Treppenwitz der Weltgeschichte.
Take thou thy arms and come with me,
For we must quit ourselves like men, and strive
To aid our cause, although we be but two.
Great is the strength of feeble arms combined,
And we can combat even with the brave.
Homer—Iliad. Bk. XIII. L. 289. Bryant’s trans.
The chance of war
Is equal, and the slayer oft is slain.
Homer—Iliad. Bk. XVIII. L. 388. Bryant’s trans.
Our business in the field of fight
Is not to question, but to prove our might.
Homer—Iliad. Bk. XX. L. 304. Pope’s trans.
It is not right to exult over slain men.
Homer—Odyssey. XII. 412. Quoted by John Morley in a speech during the Boer War. Also by John Bright in his speech on America, June 29, 1867. Compare Archilochus—Frag. Berk. No. 64. (Hiller. No. 60. Liebel. No. 41.)
So ends the bloody business of the day.
Homer—Odyssey. Bk. XXII. L. 516. Pope’s trans.
Nimirum hic ego sum.
Here indeed I am; this is my position.
Horace—Epistles. Bk. I. 15. 42.
Postquam Discordia tetra
Belli ferratos postes portasque refregit.
When discord dreadful bursts her brazen bars,
And shatters locks to thunder forth her wars.
Horace—Satires. I. 4. 60. Quoted. Original not known, thought to be from Ennius.
Ye who made war that your ships
Should lay to at the beck of no nation,
Make war now on Murder, that slips
The leash of her hounds of damnation;
Ye who remembered the Alamo,
Remember the Maine!
Richard Hovey—The Word of the Lord from Havana.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored:
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
Julia Ward Howe—Battle Hymn of the Republic.
L’Angleterre prit l’aigle, et l’Autriche l’aiglon.
The English took the eagle and Austrians the eaglet.
Victor Hugo. Napoleon adopted the lectern eagle for his imperial standard. His son was the eaglet.
Earth was the meadow, he the mower strong.
Victor Hugo—La Légende des Siècles.
The sinews of war are those two metals (gold and silver).
Arthur Hull to Robert Cecil, in a Memorial, Nov. 28, 1600. Same idea in Fuller’s Holy State. P. 125. (Ed. 1649).
We don’t want to fight, but by jingo if we do,
We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men, we’ve got the money too.
We’ve fought the Bear before and while we’re Britons true,
The Russians shall not have Constantinople.
G. W. Hunt. (Called “the Kipling of the Halls.”) As sung by the “Great McDermott,” in 1878 it made the term “Jingo” popular. “Jingo,” first used as a political term of reproach, by George Jacob Holyoake, in a letter to the London Daily News, March 13, 1878. “He … falls a-fighting it out of one hand into the other, tossing it this way and that; lets it run a little upon the line, then tanutus, high jingo, come again.” Traced by the Oxford Dict. to John Eachard—Grounds and Occasion of the Contempt of Clergy. 1670. P. 34. See also Oldham—Satires upon the Jesuits. IV. (1679). “By Jingo” found in a trans. of Rabelais—Pantagruel. Bk. IV. Ch. LV. Also in Cowley—Cutter of Coleman Street, pub. 1663, performed, 1661. “By the living Jingo” in Goldsmith—Vicar of Wakefield. Ch. X.
The closeness of their intercourse [the intercourse of nations] will assuredly render war as absurd and impossible by-and-by, as it would be for Manchester to fight with Birmingham, or Holborn Hill with the Strand.
Leigh Hunt—Preface to Poems.
Oh! if I were Queen of France, or, still better, Pope of Rome,
I would have no fighting men abroad and no weeping maids at home;
All the world should be at peace; or if kings must show their might,
Why, let them who make the quarrels be the only ones to fight.
Charles Jeffries—Jeannette and Jeannot.
He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off.
Job. XXXIX. 25.
The safety of the country is at stake…. We must let ourselves be killed on the spot rather than retreat…. No faltering can be tolerated today.
General Joffre—Proclamation. Sept. 6, 1914.
I have prayed in her fields of poppies,
I have laughed with the men who died—
But in all my ways and through all my days
Like a friend He walked beside.
I have seen a sight under Heaven
That only God understands,
In the battles’ glare I have seen Christ there
With the Sword of God in His hand.
Gordon Johnstone—On Fields of Flanders.
The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.
Judges. XVI. 9.
The people arose as one man.
Judges. XX. 8.
Soon the men of the column began to see that though the scarlet line was slender, it was very rigid and exact.
Kinglake—Invasion of the Crimea. Vol. III. P. 455. “The spruce beauty of the slender red line.” Kinglake—Invasion of the Crimea. Vol. III. P. 248. Ed. 6.
For agony and spoil
Of nations beat to dust,
For poisoned air and tortured soil
And cold, commanded lust,
And every secret woe
The shuddering waters saw—
Willed and fulfilled by high and low—
Let them relearn the Law.
Kipling—Justice. (Oct. 24, 1918).
For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard—
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard—
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord!
Kipling—Recessional.
You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the King to help our French comrades against the invasion of a common enemy. You have to perform a task which will need your courage, your energy, and your patience. Remember that the honor of the British Army depends on your individual conduct. It will be your duty not only to set an example of discipline and perfect steadiness under fire, but also to maintain the most friendly relations with those whom you are helping in this struggle…. Do your duty bravely. Fear God and honor the King.
Kitchener—A printed address to the British Expeditionary Force, carried by the soldiers on the Continent.
Friendship itself prompts it (Government of the U. S.) to say to the Imperial Government (Germany) that repetition by the commanders of German naval vessels of acts in contravention of those rights (neutral) must be regarded by the Government of the United States, when they affect American citizens, as deliberately unfriendly.
Secretary of War Lansing. Reply to the German Lusitania Note. July 21, 1915.
There is no such thing as an inevitable war. If war comes it will be from failure of human wisdom.
Bonar Law. Speech before the Great War.
I have always believed that success would be the inevitable result if the two services, the army and the navy, had fair play, and if we sent the right man to fill the right place.
Austin H. Layard—Speech in Parliament. Jan. 15, 1855.
When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war!
Nathaniel Lee—The Rival Queens; or, Alexander the Great. Act IV. Sc. 2.
Art, thou hast many infamies,
But not an infamy like this.
O snap the fife and still the drum
And show the monster as she is.
R. Le Gallienne—The Illusion of War.
O, God assist our side: at least, avoid assisting the enemy and leave the rest to me.
Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau, according to Carlyle—Life of Frederick the Great. Bk. XV. Ch. XIV.
The ballot is stronger than the bullet.
Lincoln. (1856).
One month too late.
Von Linsingen’s remark when told of Italy’s declaration of war against Austria in Great War.
To arms! to arms! ye brave!
Th’ avenging sword unsheathe,
March on! march on! all hearts resolved
On victory or death!
Joseph Rouget de Lisle—The Marseilles Hymn. 7th stanza by Du Bois. See Figaro, Literary Supplement, Aug. 7, 1908.
At the Captain’s mess, in the Banquet-hall,
Sat feasting the officers, one and all—
Like a sabre-blow, like the swing of a sail,
One raised his glass, held high to hail,
Sharp snapped like the stroke of a rudder’s play,
Spoke three words only: “To the day!”
Ernest Lissauer—Hassgesang gegen England. (Song of Hate against England.)
Ostendite modo bellum, pacem habebitis.
You need only a show of war to have peace.
Livy—History. VI. 18. 7. Same idea in Dion Chrysostom—De Regn. Orat. I. Syrus—Maxims. 465.
Justum est bellum, quibus necessarium; et pia arma, quibus nulla nisi in armis relinquitur opes.
To those to whom war is necessary it is just; and a resort to arms is righteous in those to whom no means of assistance remain except by arms.
Livy—History. Bk. IX. 1.
God has chosen little nations as the vessels by which He carries His choicest wines to the lips of humanity to rejoice their hearts, to exalt their vision, to strengthen their faith, and if we had stood by when two little nations (Belgium and Servia) were being crushed and broken by the brutal hands of barbarians, our shame would have rung down the everlasting ages.
Lloyd George—Speech at Queen’s Hall. Sept., 1914.
The stern hand of Fate has scourged us to an elevation where we can see the everlasting things that matter for a nation—the great peaks we had forgotten, of Honour, Duty, Patriotism, and clad in glittering white, the pinnacles of Sacrifice, pointing like a rugged finger to Heaven. We shall descend into the valley again; but as long as the men and women of this generation last, they will carry in their hearts the image of these mighty peaks, whose foundations are not shaken, though Europe rock and sway in the convulsions of a great war.
Lloyd George—Speech at Queen’s Hall. Sept., 1914.
Too late in moving here, too late in arriving there, too late in coming to this decision, too late in starting with enterprises, too late in preparing. In this war the footsteps of the allied forces have been dogged by the mocking specter of Too Late! and unless we quicken our movements, damnation will fall on the sacred cause for which so much gallant blood has flowed.
Lloyd George—Speech, in the House of Commons. Dec. 20, 1915.
The last £100,000,000 will win.
Lloyd George, when Chancellor of the Exchequer, at the beginning of the war. 1914. See Everybody’s Magazine. Jan., 1918. P. 8.
Is it, O man, with such discordant noises,
With such accursed instruments as these,
Thou drownest Nature’s sweet and kindly voices,
And jarrest the celestial harmonies?
Longfellow—Arsenal at Springfield. St. 8.
Ultima ratio regum.
Last argument of kings. [Cannon.]
Louis XIV ordered this engraved on cannon. Removed by the National Assembly, Aug. 19, 1790. Found on cannon in Mantua. (1613). On Prussian guns of today. Motto for pieces of ordnance in use as early as 1613. Buchmann—Geflügelte Wörte. Ultima razon de reges. (War.) The ultimate reason of kings. Calderon. Don’t forget your great guns, which are the most respectable arguments of the rights of kings. Frederick the Great to his brother Henry. April 21, 1759.
Ez fer war, I call it murder,—
Ther you hev it plain and flat;
I don’t want to go no furder
Than my Testyment fer that.
Lowell—The Biglow Papers. No. 1.
It don’t seem hardly right, John,
When both my hands was full,
To stump me to a fight, John,
Your cousin, too, John Bull!
Ole Uncle S. sez he, “I guess
We know it now,” sez he,
“The lion’s paw is all the law,
According to J. B.,
That’s fit for you an’ me.”
Lowell—The Biglow Papers. Jonathan to John. St. 1.
We kind o’ thought Christ went agin war an’ pillage.
Lowell—The Biglow Papers. No. 3.
Not but wut abstract war is horrid,
I sign to thet with all my heart,—
But civilysation doos git forrid
Sometimes, upon a powder-cart.
Lowell—Biglow Papers. No. 7.
The Campbells are comin’.
Robert T. S. Lowell—The Relief of Lucknow. Poem on same story written by Henry Morford, Alex. Maclagan.
Pourquoi cette trombe enflammée
Qui vient foudroyer l’univers?
Cet embrasement de l’enfer?
Ce tourbillonnement d’armées
Par mille milliers de milliers?
—C’est pour un chiffon de papier.
For what this whirlwind all aflame?
This thunderstroke of hellish ire,
Setting the universe afire?
While millions upon millions came
Into a very storm of war?
For a scrap of paper.
Père Hyacinthe Loyson—Pour un Chiffon de Papier. Trans. by Edward Brabrook. In Notes and Queries, Jan. 6, 1917. P. 5.
Alta sedent civilis vulnera dextræ.
The wounds of civil war are deeply felt.
Lucan—Pharsalia. I. 32.
Omnibus hostes
Reddite nos populis—civile avertite bellum.
Make us enemies of every people on earth, but prevent a civil war.
Lucan—Pharsalia. II. 52.
Non tam portas intrare patentes
Quam fregisse juvat; nec tam patiente colono
Arva premi, quam si ferro populetur et igni;
Concessa pudet ire via.
The conqueror is not so much pleased by entering into open gates, as by forcing his way. He desires not the fields to be cultivated by the patient husbandman; he would have them laid waste by fire and sword. It would be his shame to go by a way already opened.
Lucan—Pharsalia. II. 443.
’Aig [F.-M. Sir Douglas Haig] ’e don’t say much; ’e don’t, so to say, say nothin’; but what ’e don’t say don’t mean nothin’, not ’arf. But when ’e do say something—my Gawd!
E. V. Lucas—Boswell of Baghdad.
Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.
Martin Luther. End of his speech at the Diet of Worms. April 18, 1521. Inscribed on his monument at Worms.
I beg that the small steamers … be spared if possible, or else sunk without a trace being left. (Spurlos versenkt.)
Count Karl Von Luxburg, Chargé d’Affaires at Buenos Ayres. Telegram to the Berlin Foreign Office, May 19, 1917. Also same July 9, 1917, referring to Argentine ships. Cablegrams disclosed by Sec. Lansing as sent from the German Legation in Buenos Ayres by way of the Swedish Legation to Berlin. “If neutrals were destroyed so that they disappeared without leaving any trace, terror would soon keep seamen and travelers away from the danger zones.” Prof. Oswald Flamm in the Berlin Woche. Cited in N. Y. Times, May 15, 1917.
Oh! wherefore come ye forth in triumph from the North,
With your hands and your feet, and your raiment all red?
And wherefore doth your rout send forth a joyous shout?
And whence be the grapes of the wine-press which ye tread?
Macaulay—The Battle of Naseby.
The essence of war is violence. Moderation in war is imbecility.
Attributed to Lord Fisher during the great War. Taken from Macaulay’s Essay on Lord Nugent’s Memorials of Hampden.
Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders’ fields.
John McCrae—In Flanders’ Fields. (We shall not Sleep.)
Di qui nacque che tutti li profeti armati vinsero, e li disarmati rovinarono.
Hence it happened that all the armed prophets conquered, all the unarmed perished.
Machiavelli—Il Principe. C. 6.
War in men’s eyes shall be
A monster of iniquity
In the good time coming.
Nations shall not quarrel then,
To prove which is the stronger;
Nor slaughter men for glory’s sake;—
Wait a little longer.
Charles Mackay—The Good Time Coming.
We want no war of conquest…. War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed.
William McKinley—Inaugural Address. Washington, March 4, 1897.
The warpipes are pealing, “The Campbells are coming.”
They are charging and cheering. O dinna ye hear it?
Alexander Maclagan—Jennie’s Dream.
There’s some say that we wan, some say that they wan,
Some say that nane wan at a’, man,
But one thing I’m sure that at Sheriff-Muir,
A battle there was which I saw, man.
And we ran and they ran, and they ran and we ran,
And we ran, and they ran awa’, man.
Murdoch McLennan—Sheriff-Muir. (An indecisive battle, Nov. 13, 1715.)
J’y suis, et j’y reste.
Here I am and here I stay.
MacMahon, before Malakoff. Gabriel Hanotaux, in Contemporary France, says that MacMahon denied this. Marquis de Castellane claimed the phrase in the Revue Hebdomodaire, May, 1908. Contradicted by L’Éclair, which quoted a letter by Gen. Biddulph to Germain Bapst, in which Gen. Biddulph tells that MacMahon said to him “Que j’y suis, et que j’y reste.”
And, though the warrior’s sun has set,
Its light shall linger round us yet,
Bright, radiant, blest.
Don Jorge Manrique—Coplas De Manrique. Last lines. Trans. by Longfellow.
Marlbrough s’en va-t-en guerre,
Mironton, mironton, mirontaine,
Marlbrough s’en va-t-en guerre,
Ne sait quand reviendra.
Marbrough (or Marlebrouck) S’en va-t-en Guerre. Old French Song. Attributed to Mme. de Sévigné. Found in Rondes avec Jeux et Petites Chansons traditionnelles, Pub. by Augener. Said to refer to Charles, Third Duke of Marlborough’s unsuccessful expedition against Cherbourg or Malplaquet, probably the latter. (1709). See King’s Classical Quotations. Air probably sung by the Crusaders of Godfrey de Bouillon, known in America “We won’t go home until morning.” Sung today in the East, tradition giving it that the ancestors of the Arabs learned it at the battle of Mansurah, April 5, 1250. The same appears in a Basque Pastorale; also in Chansons de Geste. Air known to the Egyptians.
And silence broods like spirit on the brae,
A glimmering moon begins, the moonlight runs
Over the grasses of the ancient way
Rutted this morning by the passing guns.
Masefield—August 14—In Philip the King.
For a flying foe
Discreet and provident conquerors build up
A bridge of gold.
Massinger—The Guardian. Act I. Sc. 1.
Some undone widow sits upon mine arm,
And takes away the use of it; and my sword,
Glued to my scabbard with wronged orphan’s tears,
Will not be drawn.
Massinger—New Way to Pay Old Debts. Act V. Sc. 1.
Wars and rumours of wars.
Matthew. XXIV. 6.
Now deeper roll the maddening drums,
And the mingling host like ocean heaves:
While from the midst, a horrid wailing comes,
And high above the fight the lonely bugle grieves.
Granville Mellen—The Lonely Bugle Grieves. Ode on the Celebration of Battle of Bunker Hill. June 17, 1825. (Mellen is called the “Singer of one Song” from this Ode.)
A man that runs away may fight again.
Menander, after the battle of Chæronea. 338
There is war in the skies!
Owen Meredith (Lord Lytton)—Lucile. Pt. I. Canto IV. St. 12.
No war or battle sound
Was heard the world around.
Milton—Hymn of Christ’s Nativity. L. 31.
What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate
And courage never to submit or yield,
And what is else not to be overcome.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. I. L. 105.
Heard so oft
In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge
Of battle.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. I. L. 275.
Th’ imperial ensign, which, full high advanc’d,
Shone like a meteor, streaming to the wind.
With gems and golden lustre rich emblazed,
Seraphic arms and trophies.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. I. L. 536.
My sentence is for open war.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. II. L. 51.
Others more mild,
Retreated in a silent valley, sing
With notes angelical to many a harp
Their own heroic deeds and hapless fall
By doom of battle.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. II. L. 546.
Black it stood as night,
Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell,
And shook a dreadful dart.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. II. L. 670.
So frown’d the mighty combatants, that hell
Grew darker at their frown.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. II. L. 719.
Arms on armour clashing bray’d
Horrible discord, and the madding wheels
Of brazen chariots ray’d; dire was the noise
Of conflict.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. VI. L. 209.
To overcome in battle, and subdue
Nations, and bring home spoils with infinite
Man-slaughter, shall be held the highest pitch
Of human glory.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. XI. L. 691.
The brazen throat of war.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. XI. L. 713.
What boots it at one gate to make defence,
And at another to let in the foe?
Milton—Samson Agonistes. L. 560.
In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defence.
James Monroe—Annual Message. Dec. 2, 1823.
When after many battles past,
Both tir’d with blows, make peace at last,
What is it, after all, the people get?
Why! taxes, widows, wooden legs, and debt.
Francis Moore—Almanac. Monthly Observations for 1829. P. 23.
Thrilled ye ever with the story
How on stricken fields of glory
Men have stood beneath the murderous iron hail!
Henry Morford—Coming of the Bagpipes to Lucknow. Poem on same story written by R. T. S. Lowell and Alex. Maclagan.
We had nae heed for the parish bell,
But still—when the bugle cried,
We went for you to Neuve Chapelle,
We went for you to the yetts o’ Hell,
And there for you we died!
Neil Munro—Roving Lads. (1915).
’Tis a principle of war that when you can use the lightning, ’tis better than cannon.
Napoleon I.
Providence is always on the side of the last reserve.
Attributed to Napoleon I.
Baptism of fire.
Napoleon III in a letter to the Empress Eugenie after Saarbruecken. Referring to the experience of the Prince Imperial.
England expects every officer and man to do his duty this day.
Nelson—Signal, Oct. 21, 1805, to the fleet before the battle of Trafalgar. As reported in the London Times, Dec. 26, 1805. England expects that every man will do his duty. As reported by William Pryce Cunby, First Lieut. of the Bellerophon. The claim is that Nelson gave the order “Nelson confides,” which was changed to “England expects.” See Notes and Queries, Series VI, IX, 261.283; also Nov. 4, 1905. P. 370.
For bragging time was over and fighting time was come.
Henry Newbolt—Hawke.
A soldier of the Legion lay dying in Algiers;
There was lack of woman’s nursing, there was dearth of woman’s tears.
C. E. S. Norton (Lady Stirling-Maxwell)—Bingen on the Rhine.
March to the battle-field,
The foe is now before us;
Each heart is Freedom’s shield,
And heaven is shining o’er us.
B. E. O’Meara—March to the Battle-Field.
“Go, with a song of peace,” said Fingal; “go, Ullin, to the king of swords. Tell him that we are mighty in war; that the ghosts of our foes are many.”
Ossian—Carthon. L. 269.
Adjuvat in bello pacatæ ramus olivæ.
In war the olive branch of peace is of use.
Ovid—Epistolæ Ex Ponto. I. 1. 31.
There is a hill in Flanders,
Heaped with a thousand slain,
Where the shells fly night and noontide
And the ghosts that died in vain,
A little hill, a hard hill
To the souls that died in pain.
Everard Owen—Three Hills. (1915).
It is the object only of war that makes it honorable. And if there was ever a just war since the world began, it is this in which America is now engaged.***
We fight not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in.
Thomas Paine—The Crisis.
These are the times that try men’s souls. The Summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.
Thomas Paine—The Crisis.
War even to the knife.
Palafox, the governor of Saragossa, when summoned to surrender by the French, who besieged that city in 1808. Generally quoted “At the point of the knife.”
It cannot be made, it shall not be made, it will not be made; but if it were made there would be a war between France and England for the possession of Egypt.
Lord Palmerston—Speech, 1851, referring to the Suez Canal (an example of an indiscreet and unfulfilled prophecy).
Hell, Heaven or Hoboken by Christmas.
Attributed to General John Joseph Pershing. (1918).
Lafayette, we are here.
Gen. John Joseph Pershing. At the tomb of Lafayette. (1918). On the authority of a letter from the General’s military secretary to George Morgan, Jan. 4, 1919.
Infantry, Artillery, Aviation—all that we have—are yours to dispose of as you will…. I have come to say to you that the American people would be proud to be engaged in the greatest battle in history.
Gen. John Joseph Pershing to Gen. Foch, Letter written from Office of the Commander-in-Chief, American Expeditionary Forces, in France. See “Literary Digest History of World War,” Vol. V. P. 43. March 28, 1918.
Ils ne passeront pas.
They shall not pass.
General Pétain. At the end of Feb., 1916, General de Castelnau was sent by General Joffre to decide whether Verdun should be abandoned or defended. He consulted with General Pétain, saying: “They (the Germans) must not pass.” General Pétain said: “They shall not pass.” In France the people credit it to General Joffre. See N. Y. Times, May 6, 1917.
From the Rio Grande’s waters to the icy lakes of Maine,
Let all exult, for we have met the enemy again.
Beneath their stern old mountains we have met them in their pride;
And rolled from Buena Vista back the battle’s bloody tide,
Where the enemy came surging swift like the Mississippi’s flood,
And the Reaper, Death, with strong arms swung his sickle red with blood.
Santa Anna boasted loudly that before two hours were past
His Lancers through Saltillo should pursue us fierce and fast.
On comes his solid infantry, line marching after line.
Lo! their great standards in the sun like sheets of silver shine.
Gen. Albert Pike—Battle of Buena Vista.
If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country I never would lay down my arms,—never! never! never!
William Pitt the Elder. Nov. 18, 1777.
He who first called money the sinews of the state seems to have said this with special reference to war.
Plutarch—Life of Cleomenes. 27.
Sylla proceeded by persuasion, not by arms.
Plutarch—Lysander and Sylla Compared.
It is the province of kings to bring wars about; it is the province of God to end them.
Cardinal Pole—To Henry VIII.
She saw her sons with purple death expire,
Her sacred domes involved in rolling fire,
A dreadful series of intestine wars,
Inglorious triumphs and dishonest scars.
Pope—Windsor Forest. L. 323.
War its thousands slays,
Peace its ten thousands.
Porteus—Death. L. 178.
The waves
Of the mysterious death-river moaned;
The tramp, the shout, the fearful thunder-roar
Of red-breathed cannon, and the wailing cry
Of myriad victims, filled the air.
Prentice—Lookout Mountain. L. 16.
A man is known by the Company he joins.
Bad communication trenches corrupt good manners.
Never look a gift gun in the mouth.
A drop of oil in time saves time.
One swallow doesn’t make a rum issue.
Where there’s a war there’s a way.
Proverbial sayings, popular in the Great War. Origin about 1917.
If this bill passes … as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, to prepare definitely for a separation, amicably if they can, violently if they must.
Josiah Quincy—Speech. In Congress. Jan. 14, 1811, against the admission of Louisiana to the Union. Quoted by Henry Clay in Congress (1813), “Peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must.”
Cœdes videtur significare sanguinem et ferrum.
(Slaughter) means blood and iron.
Quintilian—Declamationes.
Ouvrez toujours à vos ennemis toutes les portes et chemin, et plutot leur faites un pont d’argent, afin de les renvoyer.
Always open all gates and roads to your enemies, and rather make for them a bridge of silver, to get rid of them.
Rabelais—Gargantua. Bk. I. Ch. XLIII. Count de Pitillan, according to Gilles Corrozet—Les Divers Propos Memorables (1571) uses the same phrase with “golden” bridge for “silver.” The same suggestion was made by Aristides, referring to the proposal to destroy Xerxes’ bridge of ships over the Hellespont. (“A bridge for a retreating army.”) See Plutarch—Life of Demosthenes. Louis II, Brantome—Memoirs. Vol. I. II. P. 83. Also French trans. of Thomasi—Life of Cæsar Borgia. P. 64.
He that fights and runs away,
May turn and fight another day;
But he that is in battle slain,
Will never rise to fight again.
Ray—History of the Rebellion. P. 48. (1752).
And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
Revelation. XVI. 16. Armageddon. Correct reading is Har-Magedon, signifying Mountain of Megiddo. Authorized version, City of Megiddo. Mount Megiddo possibly Mount Carmel. The plain of Megiddo lay at its foot. Scene of many battles.
Brother Jonathan sat by the kitchen fire,
Nursin’ his foot on his knee.
“It’s a turrible fight they’re havin’ out there,
But they can’t git over to me.”
And Jonathan jingled the coins in his han’
An’ thanked the good God for the sea.
C. A. Richmond—Brother Jonathan.
Twelve mailed men sat drinking late,
The wine was red as blood.
Cried one, “How long then must we wait
Ere we shall thunder at the gate,
And crush the cursed brood?”
Twelve men of iron, drinking late,
Strike hands, and pledge a cup of hate:
“The Day!”
C. A. Richmond—The Day.
The morning came, there stood the foe;
Stark eyed them as they stood;
Few words he spoke—’twas not a time
For moralizing mood:
“See there the enemy, my boys!
Now, strong in valor’s might,
Beat them or Betty Stark will sleep
In widowhood to-night.”
J. P. Rodmen—Battle of Bennington.
To you men who, in your turn, have come together to spend and be spent in the endless crusade against wrong; to you who face the future resolute and confident; to you who strive in a spirit of brotherhood for the betterment of our nation; to you who gird yourselves for this great new fight in the never-ending warfare for the good of mankind, I say in closing what I said in that speech in closing: “We stand at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord.”
Roosevelt—Speech, at Chicago, Progressive Convention, Aug. 5, 1912, quoting from his speech in June.
Righteous Heaven,
In thy great day of vengeance! Blast the traitor
And his pernicious counsels, who, for wealth,
For pow’r, the pride of greatness, or revenge,
Would plunge his native land in civil wars.
Nicholas Rowe—Jane Shore. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 198.
War, the needy bankrupt’s last resort.
Rowe—Pharsalia. Bk. I. 343.
He never would believe that Providence had sent a few men into the world, ready booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and bridled to be ridden.
Richard Rumbold. At his execution. (1685). See Macaulay—History of England. Ch. V.
[The Russians] dashed on towards that thin line tipped with steel.
W. H. Russell—The British Expedition to the Crimea. (Revised edition.) P. 187. Also in his Letters to the London Times, Oct. 25, 1854. Speaking of the 93rd Highlanders at Balaclava. Credit for authorship of “the thin red line” claimed by Russell in a letter printed in Notes and Queries, series 8. VII. P. 191.
Celuy qui fuit de bonne heure
Peut combattre derechef.
He who flies at the right time can fight again.
Satyre Menippée. (1594).
Qui fuit peut revenir aussi;
Qui meurt, il n’en est pas ainsi.
He who flies can also return; but it is not so with him who dies.
Scarron.
Ein Schlachten war’s, nicht eine Schlacht, zu nennen!
It was a slaughter rather than a battle.
Schiller—Die Jungfrau von Orleans. I. 9. 50.
Est ist hier wie in den alten Zeiten
Wo die Klinge noch alles that bedeuten.
It is now as in the days of yore when the sword ruled all things.
Schiller—Wallenstein’s Lager. VI. 140.
Hosti non solum dandam esse viam fugiendi verum etiam muniendam.
Give the enemy not only a road for flight, but also a means of defending it.
Scipio Africanus, according to Frontinus—Strateg. IV. 7. 16.
And the stern joy which warriors feel
In foemen worthy of their steel.
Scott—Lady of the Lake. Canto V. St. 10.
One blast upon his bugle horn
Were worth a thousand men.
Scott—Lady of the Lake. Canto VI. St. 18.
In the lost battle,
Borne down by the flying,
Where mingles war’s rattle
With groans of the dying.
Scott—Marmion. Canto III. St. 11.
“Charge, Chester, charge! On, Stanley, on!”
Were the last words of Marmion.
Scott—Marmion. Canto VI. St. 32.
Still from the sire the son shall hear
Of the stern strife, and carnage drear,
Of Flodden’s fatal field,
When shiver’d was fair Scotland’s spear,
And broken was her shield!
Scott—Marmion. Canto VI. St. 34.
Say to the seceded States: “Wayward sisters depart in peace.”
Winfield Scott—Letter addressed to W. H. Seward. Washington, March 3, 1861. Quoted from this letter by Horace Greeley, and ascribed to him.
There was a stately drama writ
By the hand that peopled the earth and air,
And set the stars in the infinite,
And made night gorgeous and morning fair;
And all that had sense to reason knew
That bloody drama must be gone through.
Some sat and watched how the action veered—
Waited, profited, trembled, cheered—
We saw not clearly nor understood,
But yielding ourselves to the masterhand,
Each in his part as best he could,
We played it through as the author planned.
Alan Seeger—The Hosts.
It’s easy to fight when everything’s right
And you’re mad with the thrill and the glory;
It’s easy to cheer when victory’s near,
And wallow in fields that are gory.
It’s a different song when everything’s wrong,
When you’re feeling infernally mortal;
When it’s ten against one, and hope there is none,
Buck up, little soldier, and chortle!
Robert W. Service—Carry On.
When children’s children shall talk of War as a madness that may not be;
When we thank our God for our grief today, and blazon from sea to sea
In the name of the Dead the banner of Peace … that will be Victory.
Robert W. Service—The Song of the Pacifist.
Fortune is always on the side of the largest battalions.
Mme. de Sévigné—Letters. 202.
It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces.
William H. Seward—Speech. The Irrepressible Conflict. Oct. 25, 1858.
And all the gods go with you! upon your sword
Sit laurel victory! and smooth success
Be strew’d before your feet!
Antony and Cleopatra. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 99.
All was lost,
But that the heavens fought.
Cymbeline. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 3.
Give me the cups;
And let the kettle to the trumpet speak,
The trumpet to the cannoneer without,
The cannons to heavens, the heavens to earth.
Hamlet. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 285.
It was great pity, so it was,
That villanous saltpetre should be digg’d
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy’d
So cowardly; and but for these vile guns
He would himself have been a soldier.
Henry IV. Pt. I. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 59.
We must have bloody noses and crack’d crowns,
And pass them current too. God’s me, my horse!
Henry IV. Pt. I. Act II. Sc. 3. L. 96.
The fire-eyed maid of smoky war
All hot and bleeding will we offer them.
Henry IV. Pt. I. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 114.
Tut, tut; good enough to toss; food for powder, food for powder; they’ll fill a pit as well as better.
Henry IV. Pt. I. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 71.
The arms are fair,
When the intent of bearing them is just.
Henry IV. Pt. I. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 88.
Our battle is more full of names than yours,
Our men more perfect in the use of arms,
Our armour all as strong, our cause the best;
Then reason will our hearts should be as good.
Henry IV. Pt. II. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 154.
That I may truly say with the hook-nosed fellow of Rome, I came, I saw, and overcame.
Henry IV. Pt. II. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 45.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
Henry V. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 1.
From camp to camp through the foul womb of night
The hum of either army stilly sounds.
Henry V. Act IV. Chorus. L. 4.
The armourers, accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,
Give dreadful note of preparation.
Henry V. Act IV. Chorus. L. 12. “With clink of hammers closing rivets up.” Colley Cibber’s altered version of Richard III. Act V. Sc. 3.
There are few die well that die in a battle.
Henry V. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 148.
He which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made.
Henry V. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 35.
O war! thou son of hell,
Whom angry heavens do make their minister,
Throw in the frozen bosoms of our part
Hot coals of vengeance! Let no soldier fly.
He that is truly dedicate to war
Hath no self-love, nor he that loves himself,
Hath not essentially but by circumstance
The name of valour.
Henry VI. Pt. II. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 33.
It is war’s prize to take all vantage.
Henry VI. Pt. III. Act I. Sc. 4. Same in Schiller—Wallenstein’s Tod. Act I. Sc. 4.
Sound trumpets! let our bloody colours wave!
And either victory, or else a grave.
Henry VI. Pt. III. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 173.
They shall have wars and pay for their presumption.
Henry VI. Pt. III. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 114.
Cæsar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Até by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice
Cry “Havoc,” and let slip the dogs of war.
Julius Cæsar. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 270.
The cannons have their bowels full of wrath,
And ready mounted are they to spit forth
Their iron indignation ’gainst your walls.
King John. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 210.
Now for the bare-pick’d bone of majesty
Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest
And snarleth in the gentle eyes of peace.
King John. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 148.
Your breath first kindled the dead coal of wars
And brought in matter that should feed this fire;
And now ’tis far too huge to be blown out
With that same weak wind which enkindled it.
King John. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 83.
I drew this gallant head of war,
And cull’d these fiery spirits from the world,
To outlook conquest and to win renown
Even in the jaws of danger and of death.
King John. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 113.
When the hurly-burly’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won.
Macbeth. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 3.
Hang out our banners on the outward walls.
Macbeth. Act V. Sc. 5. L. 1.
Blow, wind! come, wrack!
At least we’ll die with harness on our back.
Macbeth. Act V. Sc. 5. L. 51.
Lay on, Macduff,
And damn’d be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”
Macbeth. Act V. Sc. 8. L. 33.
The bay-trees in our country all are wither’d
And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;
The pale-fac’d moon looks bloody on the earth
And lean-look’d prophets whisper fearful change;
Rich men look sad and ruffians dance and leap,
The one in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other to enjoy by rage and war.
Richard II. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 8.
Let’s march without the noise of threat’ning drum.
Richard II. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 51.
He is come to open
The purple testament of bleeding war.
Richard II. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 93.
Grim-visag’d war hath smoothed his wrinkled front.
Richard III. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 9.
Thus far into the bowels of the land
Have we march’d without impediment.
Richard III. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 3.
Conscience avaunt, Richard’s himself again:
Hark! the shrill trumpet sounds, to horse, away,
My soul’s in arms, and eager for the fray.
Richard III. Act V. Sc. 3. Altered by Colley Cibber.
Put in their hands thy bruising irons of wrath,
That they may crush down with heavy fall
The usurping helmets of our adversaries.
Richard III. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 110.
Fight, gentlemen of England! fight, bold yeomen!
Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head!
Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood;
Amaze the welkin with your broken staves!
Richard III. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 338.
Follow thy drum;
With man’s blood paint the ground, gules, gules;
Religious canons, civil laws are cruel;
Then what should war be?
Timon of Athens. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 58.
There was only one virtue, pugnacity; only one vice, pacifism. That is an essential condition of war.
Bernard Shaw—Heartbreak House. Preface. Madness in Court.
In the arts of life man invents nothing; but in the arts of death he outdoes Nature herself, and produces by chemistry and machinery all the slaughter of plague, pestilence and famine.
Bernard Shaw—Man and Superman.
They shall not pass, tho’ battleline
May bend, and foe with foe combine,
Tho’ death rain on them from the sky
Till every fighting man shall die,
France shall not yield to German Rhine.
Alice M. Shepard—They Shall Not Pass.
Hold the Fort! I am coming.
Gen. W. T. Sherman—Signalled to Gen. Corse. Oct. 5, 1864.
War is Hell.
Attributed to General Sherman. (Not remembered by him.) John Koolbeck, of Harlem, Iowa, who was Aide de Camp to Gen. Winslow, testifies that after the battle of Vicksburg, 1861, Gen. Sherman was watching the crossing of the army across a pontoon bridge, at the river Pearl. Koolbeck distinctly heard him say: “War is Hell.” See Everybody’s. Oct., 1918. P. 71.
J’ai vécu.
I existed.
Sieyès, when asked what he did during the Reign of Terror. See Mignet—Notices Hist. I. 81.
Sainte Jeanne went harvesting in France,
But ah! what found she there?
The little streams were running red,
And the torn fields were bare;
And all about the ruined towers
Where once her king was crowned,
The hurtling ploughs of war and death
Had scored the desolate ground.
Marion Couthouy Smith—Sainte Jeanne of France.
Every shot has its commission, d’ye see? We must all die at one time, as the saying is.
Smollett—The Reprisal. Act III. 8.
I came, I saw, God overcame.
John Sobieski—to the Pope, with the captured Mussulman standards.
Terrible as an army with banners.
Song of Solomon. VI. 4 and 10.
Then more fierce
The conflict grew; the din of arms, the yell
Of savage rage, the shriek of agony,
The groan of death, commingled in one sound
Of undistinguish’d horrors.
Southey—Madoc. Pt. II. XV.
Either this or upon this. (Either bring this back or be brought back upon it.)
Said to be a Spartan mother’s words to her son on giving him his shield.
War! war! war!
Heaven aid the right!
God move the hero’s arm in the fearful fight!
God send the women sleep in the long, long night,
When the breasts on whose strength they leaned shall heave no more.
E. C. Stedman—Alice of Monmouth. VII.
The crystal-pointed tents from hill to hill.
E. C. Stedman—Alice of Monmouth. XI.
But, Virginians, don’t do it, for I tell you that the flagon,
Filled with blood of Old Brown’s offspring, was first poured by Southern hands;
And each drop from Old Brown’s life-veins, like the red gore of the Dragon,
May spring up a vengeful Fury, hissing through your slave-worn lands:
And Old Brown,
Osawatomie Brown,
May trouble you worse than ever, when you’ve nailed his coffin down.
E. C. Stedman—How Old Brown Took Harper’s Ferry. Written during Brown’s Trial. Nov., 1859.
Hobbes clearly proves that every creature
Lives in a state of war by nature.
Swift—Poetry. A Rhapsody.
War, that mad game the world so loves to play.
Swift—Ode to Sir Wm. Temple.
Not with dreams, but with blood and with iron
Shall a nation be moulded to last.
Swinburne—A Word for the Country.
Ratio et consilium propriæ ducis artes.
The proper qualities of a general are judgment and deliberation.
Tacitus—Annales. III. 20.
Miseram pacem vel bello bene mutari.
Even war is better than a wretched peace.
Tacitus—Annales. III. 44.
Deos fortioribus adesse.
The gods are on the side of the stronger.
Tacitus—Annales. IV. 17.
We can start at once. We made preparations on the way.
Commander Joseph K. Taussig for the American Navy, to the British Admiral’s query: “When will you be ready?” (1917). Erroneously attributed to Admiral Sims.
A little more grape, Captain Bragg.
Attributed to General Taylor at Buena Vista. Feb. 23, 1847.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said,
Into the valley of death
Rode the six hundred.
Tennyson—Charge of the Light Brigade. St. 1.
Forward, the Light Brigade!
Was there a man dismayed?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of death
Rode the six hundred.
Tennyson—Charge of the Light Brigade. St. 2.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
Tennyson—Charge of the Light Brigade. St. 3. “Jaws of death” used by Du Bartas—Weekes and Workes. Day I. Pt. IV. Twelfth Night. Act III. Sc. 4.
The children born of thee are sword and fire,
Red ruin, and the breaking up of law.
Tennyson—Idylls of the King. Guinevere. L. 423.
Omnia prius experiri verbis quam armis sapientem decet.
It becomes a wise man to try negotiation before arms.
Terence—Eunuchus. V. 1. 19.
Sed omissis quidem divinis exhortationibus illum magis Græcum versiculum secularis sententiæ sibi adhibent, “Qui fugiebat, rursus prœliabitur:” ut et rursus forsitan fugiat.
But overlooking the divine exhortations, they act rather upon that Greek verse of worldly significance, “He who flees will fight again,” and that perhaps to betake himself again to flight.
Tertullian—De Fuga in Persecutione. Ch. 10.
But what most showed the vanity of life
Was to behold the nations all on fire.
Thomson—Castle of Indolence. Canto I. 55.
Ten good soldiers, wisely led,
Will beat a hundred without a head.
D. W. Thompson—Paraphrase of Euripides.
Fight the good fight of faith.
I Timothy. VI. 12.
A thousand touching traits testify to the sacred power of the love which a righteous war awakes in noble nations.
Treitschke—German History. Vol. I. P. 482.
War is elevating, because the individual disappears before the great conception of the state…. What a perversion of morality to wish to abolish heroism among men!
Treitschke—Politics. Vol. I. P. 74.
God will see to it that war always recurs as a drastic medicine for the human race.
Treitschke—Politics. Vol. I. P. 76.
This is the soldier brave enough to tell
The glory-dazzled world that “war is hell.”
Henry Van Dyke—On the St. Gaudens’ Statue of Gen. Sherman.
Arma virumque cano.
Arms and the man I sing.
Vergil—Æneid. Bk. I. 1.
Una salus victis nullam sperare salutem.
The only safety for the conquered is to expect no safety.
Vergil—Æneid. II. 354.
Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat?
Who asks whether the enemy were defeated by strategy or valor?
Vergil—Æneid. II. 390.
Exigui numero, sed bello vivida virtus.
Small in number, but their valor tried in war, and glowing.
Vergil—Æneid. V. 754.
Sævit amor ferri et scelerata insania belli.
The love of arms and the mad wickedness of war are raging.
Vergil—Æneid. VII. 461.
Nullum cum victis certamen et æthere cassis.
Brave men ne’er warred with the dead and vanquished.
Vergil—Æneid. XI. 104.
On dit que Dieu est toujours pour les gros bataillons.
It is said that God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions.
Voltaire—Letter to M. le Riche. Feb. 6, 1770. Also said by Marshal de la Ferté to Anne of Austria. See Boursault—Lettres Nouvelles. P. 384. (Ed. 1698). Attributed to General Moreau by Alison; to General Charles Lee, by Hawthorne—Life of Washington.
On to Richmond.
Fitz-Henry Warren. Used as a standing headline in the N. Y. Tribune, by Dana, June–July, 1861, before the McDowell campaign.
A great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle [patriotism] alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest, or some reward.
Washington—Letter to John Banister. Valley Forge, April 21, 1778.
To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.
Washington—Speech to Both Houses of Congress. Jan. 8, 1790.
We do not with God’s name make wanton play;
We are not on such easy terms with Heaven;
But in Earth’s hearing we can verily say,
“Our hands are pure; for peace, for peace we have striven,”
And not by Earth shall he be soon forgiven
Who lit the fire accurst that flames to-day.
Sir W. Watson—To the Troubler of the World, Aug. 5, 1914.
They went to war against a preamble, they fought seven years against a declaration.
Daniel Webster—Speech on the Presidential Protest. May 17, 1834.
Up Guards and at ’em!
Attributed to Wellington during the Battle of Waterloo. Denied by the Duke to Mr. Croker, in answer to a letter written March 14, 1852. “What I must have said, and possibly did say was, ‘Stand up guards!’ and then gave the order to attack.” See J. W. Choker’s Memoirs. P. 544. Also Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Biography of Wellington.
Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.
Wellington—Despatch. (1815).
The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing field of Eton.
Attributed to Wellington. “The battle of Waterloo was won here,” was said by the Duke of Wellington when present at a cricket match at Eton. Prof. W. Selwyn—Waterloo, a Lay of Jubilee. (Second Ed.)
The whole art of war consists in getting at what is on the other side of the hill.
Duke of Wellington—Saying.
This new Katterfelto, his show to complete,
Means his boats should all sink as they pass by our fleet;
Then as under the ocean their course they steer right on,
They can pepper their foes from the bed of old Triton.
Henry Kirke White—The Wonderful Juggler. Anticipating the submarine, in Napoleon’s day.
Now we remember over here in Flanders,
(It isn’t strange to think of You in Flanders!)
This hideous warfare seems to make things clear.
We never thought about You much in England,
But now that we are far away from England
We have no doubts, we know that You are here.
Mrs. C. T. Whitnall—Christ in Flanders. First appeared in the London Spectator. Later in the Outlook. July 26, 1916.
We seemed to see our flag unfurled,
Our champion waiting in his place
For the last battle of the world,
The Armageddon of the race.
Whittier—Rantoul.
As long as war is regarded as wicked it will always have its fascinations. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.
Oscar Wilde—Intentions.
I will die in the last ditch. (Dyke.)
William of Orange. Hume—History of England. Ch. XLIII.
Germany’s greatness makes it impossible for her to do without the ocean, but the ocean also proves that even in the distance, and on its farther side, without Germany and the German Emperor, no great decision dare henceforth be taken.
William II, the former German Emperor—Speech, July, 1900.
Our German Fatherland to which I hope will be granted … to become in the future as closely united, as powerful, and as authoritative as once the Roman world-empire was, and that, just as in the old times they said, “Civis romanus sum,” hereafter, at some time in the future, they will say, “I am a German citizen.”
William II, the former German Emperor—Speech, in Oct., 1900.
Every bullet has its billet.
King William III, according to Wesley—Journal, June 6, 1765. Also in Song by H. R. Bishop, sung in The Circassian Bride. Quoted by Sterne—Tristram Shandy. Vol. VIII. Ch. XIX.
It’s a long way to Tipperary, it’s a long way to go;
It’s a long way to Tipperary, to the sweetest girl I know!
Good-bye to Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square;
It’s a long way to Tipperary, but my Heart’s right there!
Harry Williams and Jack Judge—It’s a Long Way to Tipperary. Popular in The Great War. Chorus claimed by Alice Smythe B. Jay. Written in 1908. See N. Y. Times, Sept. 20, 1907.
War is only a sort of dramatic representation, a sort of dramatic symbol of a thousand forms of duty. I fancy that it is just as hard to do your duty when men are sneering at you as when they are shooting at you.
Woodrow Wilson—Speech. Brooklyn Navy Yard, May 11, 1914.
You have laid upon me this double obligation: “we are relying upon you, Mr. President, to keep us out of war, but we are relying upon you, Mr. President, to keep the honor of the nation unstained.”
Woodrow Wilson—Speech. At Cleveland. Jan. 29, 1916.
I am the friend of peace and mean to preserve it for America so long as I am able…. No course of my choosing or of theirs (nations at war) will lead to war. War can come only by the wilful acts and aggressions of others.
Woodrow Wilson—Address to Congress. Feb. 26, 1917.
It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts—for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.
Woodrow Wilson—War Message to Congress. April 2, 1917.
To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness, and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other.
Woodrow Wilson—War Message to Congress. April 2, 1917.
It is not an army that we must train for war; it is a nation.
Woodrow Wilson—Speech. At dedication of a Red Cross Building, May 12, 1917.
They came with banner, spear, and shield;
And it was proved in Bosworth field,
Not long the Avenger was withstood—
Earth help’d him with the cry of blood.
Wordsworth—Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle. St. 3. Last line probably taken from John Beaumont’s Battle of Flodden Field.
But Thy most dreaded instrument
In working out a pure intent,
Is man,—arrayed for mutual slaughter,—
Yea, Carnage is Thy daughter.
Wordsworth. Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty. Ode XLV. (1815). Suppressed in later editions. “But Man is thy most awful instrument, / In working out a pure intent; / Thou cloth’st the wicked in their dazzling mail, / And for thy righteous purpose they prevail.” Version in later editions.
As regards Providence, he cannot shake off the prejudice that in war, God is on the side of the big battalions, which at present are in the enemy’s camp.
Zeller—Frederick the Great as Philosopher. Referring to Œuvres de Frederic. XVIII. 186–188, the contents of a letter from Frederick to the Duchess of Gotha, about 1757. Carlyle gives the date of the letter as May 8, 1760, in his History of Frederick the Great. II. Bk. XIX. Vol. V. P. 606.