WIST Quotations

Berry, Wendell -- Essay (1999), “The Failure of War,” Citizenship Papers (2003)

Dave — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 18:38:15 +0000

If you know even as little history as I do, it is hard not to doubt the efficacy of modern war as a solution to any problem except that of retribution — the “justice” of exchanging one damage for another.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1999), “The Failure of War,” Citizenship Papers (2003)

Berry, Wendell -- Speech (1968-02-10), “A Statement Against the War in Vietnam,” Kentucky Conference on the War and the Draft, University of Kentucky

Dave — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 17:37:16 +0000

If I solve my dispute with my neighbor by killing him, I have certainly solved the immediate dispute. If my neighbor was a scoundrel, then the world is no doubt better for his absence. But in killing my neighbor, though he may have been a terrible man who did not deserve to live, I have made myself a killer — and the life of my next neighbor is in greater peril than the life of the last.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Speech (1968-02-10), “A Statement Against the War in Vietnam,” Kentucky Conference on the War and the Draft, University of Kentucky

Collected in The Long-Legged House, Part 2 (1969).

Kennedy, John F. -- Speech, Centennial Celebration, University of Washington, Seattle (1961-11-16)

Dave — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 17:39:57 +0000

We are neither “warmongers” nor “appeasers,” neither “hard” nor “soft.” We are Americans, determined to defend the frontiers of freedom, by an honorable peace if peace is possible, but by arms if arms are used against us. And if we are to move forward in that spirit, we shall need all the calm and thoughtful citizens that this great University can produce, all the light they can shed, all the wisdom they can bring to bear. It is customary, both here and around the world, to regard life in the United States as easy. Our advantages are many. But more than any other people on earth, we bear burdens and accept risks unprecedented in their size and their duration, not for ourselves alone but for all who wish to be free.

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) American politician, author, journalist, US President (1961–63)
Speech, Centennial Celebration, University of Washington, Seattle (1961-11-16)

Johnson, Lyndon -- Speech (1966-01-12), “State of the Union,” Joint Session of Congress, Washington, D. C.

Dave — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 20:56:44 +0000

War is always the same. It is young men dying in the fullness of their promise. It is trying to kill a man that you do not know enough to hate. Therefore, to know war, is to know that there is still madness in the world.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963–69)
Speech (1966-01-12), “State of the Union,” Joint Session of Congress, Washington, D. C.

Eisenhower, Dwight David -- Speech, Canadian Club, Ottawa (10 Jan 1946)

Dave — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 12:27:09 +0000

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general, US President (1953–61)
Speech, Canadian Club, Ottawa (10 Jan 1946)