War is a billionaire’s extortion racket, baptized in the blood of impoverished teenagers.
Smedley Butler (1881–1940) American Marine Corps officer, war hero, anti-war activist
(Spurious)
Widely circulated in social media, this is less of a quote than a paraphrase of various anti-war statements Butler made, including in his book War Is a Racket (1935), itself an expansion of a lecture series by Butler in the early 1930s.
Quotations about:
monied interests
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Now, this means that our government, national and State, must be freed from the sinister influence or control of special interests. Exactly as the special interests of cotton and slavery threatened our political integrity before the Civil War, so now the great special business interests too often control and corrupt the men and methods of government for their own profit. We must drive the special interests out of politics.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer; US President (1901–09)
Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas
(Source)
Our worst revolutionaries today are those reactionaries who do not see and will not admit that there is any need for change.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer; US President (1901–09)
Autobiography, ch. 13 “Social and Industrial Justice” (1913)
(Source)
Roosevelt goes on to suggest they are revolutionaries because their (in)actions foment revolution.