Verbal Shrapnel
a desiderative pastiche
The word experience is like a shrapnel shell, and bursts into a
thousand meanings.
George Santayana (1920, 1956)
Yet it is mistaken, and condescending, to assume that whole
cultures and great religions are incompatible with liberty and
self-government. I believe that God has planted in every human
heart the desire to live in freedom. And even when that desire is
crushed by tyranny for decades, it will rise again.
George Walker Bush [State of the Union Address (20 Jan
2004)]
George W. Bush is a simple person — and he simply wants
war. ... Mr. Bush, you never fought in a war, so you have no idea
what war is like. You could have fought for your country in
Vietnam, but you were a coward.
Bob Fertik (12 Sept 2002)
George Bush is a moral coward.
Howard Dean
The programs and policies of George Bush are unpatriotic.
Al Gore
George Bush is a lunatic.
Bon Jovi
Mr. Bush, you spent one million of our tax dollars to learn how
to fly a combat plane. And then you got drunk — rotten,
stinking drunk. So drunk that you couldn't pass the Air Force
physical exam. So you were grounded from flight, and you deserted
your country during war. If you were the son of an ordinary
American, you would have gone to jail.
Bob Fertik (12 Sept 2002)
There was no reason for us to become involved in Iraq recently.
That was a war based on lies and misinterpretations from London
and from Washington, claiming falsely that Saddam Hussein was
responsible for [the] 9/11 attacks, claiming falsely that Iraq
had weapons of mass destruction. And I think that President Bush
and Prime Minister Blair probably knew that many of the
allegations were based on uncertain intelligence ... a decision
was made to go to war [then people said] "Let's find a reason to
do so." I think the basic reason was made not in London but in
Washington. I think that Bush Junior was inclined to finish a war
that his father had precipitated against Iraq.
James Earl Carter Jr (22 Mar 2004)
I hate everything about this war except that we're winning it ...
the only real good news will be when this terrible time in
American history is over.
Andy Rooney (6 April 2003)
I have not been a supporter of his. I did not vote for him. And I
was very critical of what he did here. And I must say that
fortunately, he's president and I'm not. It appears as though he
did the right thing and I didn't think he was doing the right
thing. And, if he's listening ... I was wrong, Bush was right.
Andy Rooney [radio interview with Don Imus (10 Apr
2003) on Bush's decision to liberate Iraq]
I felt chastened. I had to think that I was a little wrong.
There's no question that it's better without him in there,
without Saddam Hussein. [But] You can't even be critical, either,
without sounding unpatriotic.
Andy Rooney (28 April 2003)
Under the guise of 'support your neighbor' we're
all expected not to criticize the president because it's
unpatriotic. I think it's unpatriotic to do some of the things
that this president has done to this country.
Howard Dean
Mr. Bush, you are not a legitimate President. And you do not have
the power — or the right — to send our precious
children off to war.
Bob Fertik (12 Sept 2002)
We've sterilized war ... made it easy. Stripped it of the smell
of infection and the silence of death. We've bled off the terror
and the sorrow. And because of us, the power to wage war now
rests in the hands of cowards and hypocrites.
Kyle Mills ["Burn Factor" (2001)]
Cowardice, as distinguished from panic, is almost always simply
a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.
Ernest Hemingway
The difference between a coward and a brave man is mostly a
matter of timing.
Robert A. Heinlein
For all men would be cowards if they durst.
John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester
[A Satire Against Mankind]
More frayd then hurt.
John Heywood
Repartee: Prudent insult in retort. Practiced by gentlemen with a
constitutional aversion to violence, but a strong disposition to
offend.
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce
He discounted that kind of rough humor, having learned in the
last war that the men with the quickest wit around the campfire
rarely show themselves to good effect on the battlefield.
attributed to George Washington [in defense of Henry
Knox]
Feare may force a man to cast beyond the moone.
John Heywood
That man is not truly brave who is afraid either to seem or to
be, when it suits him, a coward.
Edgar Allan Poe
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
William Shakespeare [sc 2 act 2 Julius Caesar]
Man gives every reason for his conduct save one, every excuse for
his crimes save one, every plea for his safety save one; and that
one is his cowardice.
George Bernard Shaw [act 3 Man and Superman]
When cowardice is made respectable, its followers are without
number both from among the weak and the strong; it easily becomes
a fashion.
Eric Hoffer [aph 203 The Passionate State
of Mind (1955)]
The only thing I am afraid of is fear.
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
Nothing is to be so much feared as fear.
Henry David Thoreau [Journal 7 Sep 1851)]
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, nameless,
unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to
convert retreat into advance.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (4 March 1933)
As we gather tonight, hundreds of thousands of American
servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on
terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice
to the violent, they are making America more secure. ... We have
faced serious challenges together, and now we face a choice: We
can go forward with confidence and resolve, or we can turn back
to the dangerous illusion that terrorists are not plotting and
outlaw regimes are no threat to us. ... We've not come all this
way — through tragedy, and trial and war — only to
falter and leave our work unfinished. Americans are rising to the
tasks of history, and they expect the same from us. In their
efforts, their enterprise, and their character, the American
people are showing that the state of our union is confident and
strong. Our greatest responsibility is the active defense of the
American people. Twenty-eight months have passed since September
11th, 2001 — over two years without an attack on
American soil. And it is tempting to believe that the danger is
behind us. That hope is understandable, comforting — and
false. ... The terrorists continue to plot against America and
the civilized world. And by our will and courage, this danger
will be defeated.
George Walker Bush [State of the Union Address (20 Jan
2004)]
A fearless fool is sometimes better than a wise man or a timid
angel.
paraphrase of Nancy Astor [My Two Countries
(1920)]
There's something about American ingenuity and American civic
culture that's combined with American military courage that is
producing incredible results in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and around
the world.
Paul Wolfowitz (27 Feb 2004)
For all Americans, the last three years have brought tests we did
not ask for, and achievements shared by all. By our actions, we
have shown what kind of nation we are. In grief, we have found
the grace to go on. In challenge, we rediscovered the courage and
daring of a free people. In victory, we have shown the noble aims
and good heart of America. And having come this far, we sense
that we live in a time set apart. I've been witness to the
character of the people of America, who have shown calm in times
of danger, compassion for one another, and toughness for the long
haul. All of us have been partners in a great enterprise.
George Walker Bush [State of the Union Address (20 Jan
2004)]
... he knew that war is treachery and hatred, the muddling of
ignorant generals, the torture and killing, and sickness and
tiredness, until at last it is over, and nothing has changed,
except for new weariness and new hatreds.
John Steinbeck (1942)
Rather perish than hate and fear, and twice rather perish than
make oneself hated and feared.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
The nation's honor is dearer than the nation's comfort; yes, than
the nation's life itself.
Woodrow Wilson [26 Jan 1919 speech]
I am tired of people who have not been at war but who know all
about it.
John Steinbeck (1942)
We are not descended from fearful men.
Edward R. Morrow (7 Mar 1954)
Then Jesus asked them, "When I sent you without purse, bag or
sandals, did you lack anything?" "Nothing," they answered. He
said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a
bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.
It is written: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors'; and
I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is
written about me is reaching its fulfillment." The disciples
said, "See, Lord, here are two swords." "That is enough," he
replied.
Luke 22:35-8 NIV Bible
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to
send peace, but a sword.
Matthew 10:34 Bible
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will
bring My words upon this city for evil and not for good; and they
shall be accomplished in that day before thee. But I will deliver
thee in that day, saith the Lord; and thou shalt not be given
into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. For I will
surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword; but
thy life shall be as a prize unto thee, because thou hast put thy
trust in Me, saith the Lord.
Jeremiah 39:16-18 21KJV Bible
Every man's sword was against his fellow.
I Samuel 14:20 Bible
After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away
from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to
live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the
police and the military.
William Burroughs [The War Universe in
Painting and Guns (1992)]
Now they're tryin' to take my guns away
And that would be just fine
If you take 'em away from the criminals first
I'll gladly give ya mine
The Charlie Daniels Band [What This World Needs Is
A Few More Rednecks]
When I hold you in my arms
And I feel my finger on your trigger
I know no one can do me no harm
Because happiness is a warm gun.
John Lennon & Paul McCartney [Happiness Is a Warm
Gun (1968)]
The main foundations of every state, new states as well as
ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms ... you
cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good
arms, good laws inevitably follow.
Niccolò di Bernardo Machiavelli [ch 12 The
Prince, (1514)]
Men who've seen alot of combat don't have many illusions about
solving problems with weapons.
Greg Iles (2001)
It just isn't in human nature to throw away a weapon.
David Brin [Kiln People (2002)]
Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive
factor; it is people, not things, that are decisive. The contest
of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power,
but also a contest of human power and morale. Military and
economic power is necessarily wielded by people.
Mao Tse-Tung / Mao Zedong [On Protracted
War (May 1938)]
War is war, and not popularity-seeking.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Return with your shield, or return upon it.
familial injunction of ancient Greece and medieval
Scotland
For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you
contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a
prince must guard against.
Niccolò di Bernardo Machiavelli [ch 14 The
Prince, (1514)]
The troops will march in, the bands will play, the crowds will
cheer, and in four days everyone will have forgotten. Then we
will be told we have to send in more troops. It's like taking a
drink ... the effect wears off, and you have to take another.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy [re: Maxwell Taylor's Vietnam
report (1961)]
War is a matter not so much of arms as of expenditure, through
which arms maybe made of service.
Thucydides [bk 1 ch 83 sec 2 History of the
Peloponnesian Wars]
The wars in Laos mostly resemble pillow-fights. When two armies
can no longer avoid battle, the side that remembers not to throw
down its weapons when fleeing declares victory.
attributed to U.S. military advisor
The loss in physical force is not the only one which the two
sides suffer in the course of the combat; the moral forces also
are shaken, broken, and go to ruin.
Karl von Clausewitz
Confrontations are like haircuts: some are good and some are bad,
but none of them can change the essential nature of one's own
hair ... that nothing will ever alter the unforgettable or
unforgivable nature of the truth inside one's head.
paraphrase of T. Jefferson Parker (2002)
Battles could be won ... the war, never. The important thing was
not to surrender.
Lawrence Sanders
Even the propagandists on the radio find it very difficult to
really say let alone believe that the world will be a happy
place, of love and peace and plenty, and that the lion will lie
down with the lamb and everybody will believe anybody [after this
war].
Gertrude Stein [Wars I Have Seen (1943-5)]
Among the wise and high-minded people who in self-respecting and
genuine fashion strive earnestly for peace, there are the foolish
fanatics always to be found in such a movement and always
discrediting it — the men who form the lunatic fringe in
all reform movements.
Theodore Roosevelt (1913)
A man must not swallow more beliefs than he can digest.
Havelock Ellis [ch 5 The Dance of Life (1923)]
If peace is not an option, then violence is inevitable.
anonymous
Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only
be maintained by violence. Any man who has once proclaimed
violence as his method is inevitably forced to take the lie as
his principle.
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (1973 Nobel Prize
lecture)
If the war is about power, then the side with the most guns will
win; but if it's about ideas, then the side with the biggest lie
will win ... at least until they are overthrown, and it starts
all over again. It doesn't take long to discover that the peace
that was so dearly bought is not worth the war that was paid for
it!
anonymous
Every military organization prepares for the next war by studying
the last war; but the side that is victorious will most rapidly
adapt and innovate their proven doctrine.
military maxim
We can best help you to prevent war not by repeating your
words and following your methods but by finding new words and
creating new methods.
by Adeline Virginia Stephen Woolf (1938)
A master of the art of war has said, 'I do not dare to be
the host (to commence the war); I prefer to be the guest (to act
on the defensive). I do not dare to advance an inch; I prefer to
retire a foot.' This is called marshalling the ranks
where there are no ranks; baring the arms (to fight) where there
are no arms to bare; grasping the weapon where there is no weapon
to grasp; advancing against the enemy where there is no enemy.
Lao-Tzu [#69 Tao Te Ching]
People always talk about preventing another world war. Look
around you. World peace is what's destroying this planet. ... You
see, son, you can live through a war and they call you a
survivor, maybe even a hero, but no one ever survives peace. We
all die wondering what we might have done differently.
John Hockenberry (2001)
"Maybe when life [after the war] is less complicated."
"Does life get any less complicated [than war]?"
"Possibly not," he said, "but there are good complications and
bad ones."
"We have a choice?"
"No; but to seize the good ones when they come along, that's the
thing."
Robert Wilson (2001)
"War is not a natural state, sir. It is not a fact of nature,
something that man must adapt to or accept, like floods or small
pox. We create it. We perpetuate it. And it is incumbent on us to
do the best job we can, or we suffer the consequences. The worst
consequence of fighting a war is not if you lose, sir. The worst
thing you can do is win badly. The losers go back to their people
and endure the shame or the humiliation, and the politicians make
excuses — they were out gunned or
out fought — but still they hold on to
their cause, create their martyrs. The winner, he has proven that
his cause is stronger — perhaps might makes
right — the glory, all the celebrations, and the
parades are his. But if the winner has not won completely,
efficiently, [then] the loser will not respect him, will never
accept that the defeat was just. They will begin to find
strength. The cause, the martyrs will come back to life; and
before you know it, there is another war. And if the winner isn't
careful, all his boasting and bluster may make him blind to
history."
Jeffrey M. Shaara (2000)
Men since the beginning of time have sought peace ... all in turn
have failed, leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible
of war .... If we do not now devise some greater and more
equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door.
Douglas MacArthur [1945 radio address after Japan's
surrender]
There is no calamity greater than lightly engaging in war. To do
that is near losing (the gentleness) which is so precious. Thus
it is that when opposing weapons are (actually) crossed, he who
deplores (the situation) conquers.
Lao-Tzu [#69 Tao Te Ching]
A just war is hospitable to every self-deception on the part of
those waging it, none more than the certainty of virtue, under
whose shelter every abomination can be committed with a clear
conscience.
Alexander Cockburn (8 Feb 1991)
It is not the cause for which men took up arms that makes a
victory more just or less, it is the order that is established
when arms have been laid down.
Simone Weil
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace.
Romans 14:19 Bible
Peace is normally a great good, and normally it coincides with
righteousness, but it is righteousness and not peace which should
bind the conscience of a nation as it should bind the conscience
of an individual, and neither a nation nor an individual can
surrender conscience to another's keeping.
Theodore Roosevelt (4 Dec 1906)
The work of righteousness shall be peace.
Isaiah 32:17 Bible
Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason's garb,
Counseled ignoble ease, and peaceful sloth,
Not peace.
John Milton [bk 2 Paradise Lost (1667)]
The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
Exodus 14:14 Bible
I will give you peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and
none shall make you afraid.
Leviticus 26:6 Bible
He [God] makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the
bow, and shatters the spear, He burns the chariots with fire!
Psalms 46:9 RSV Bible
A man must feel he belongs to something. As long as he floats
around space, doing little chores that start and end with his
hands, and never reach his heart, he's no good to himself. Some
things are real, and some are only tinsel paper that people wrap
themselves in ... having nothing more important to do with their
time. Dust is an honest thing ... and so is sweat, and the
bruises you get from fighting. ... Some [men] do [understand],
and some don't [realize it at all]. Some [men] are good, and some
are pretty bad; but the point is that when the trumpet blows
Boots and Saddles, they'll all swing up together
... and when action begins, they'll all run forward together.
That is what men were made for.
Ernest Haycox [Bugles in the Afternoon (1944)]
Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down.
Job 14:1-2 Bible
"You guys ... you guys come back from the war; you think because
you made it out alive that everything and everybody has got to
lay down right in front of you. Everything is a gift now, wrapped
up special with a bow on it just for you. You think because
you've made it you're never going to die, but I'm telling you
it's only a reprieve that you got ... just a reprieve. Guys like
you, you just don't get it."
George P. Pelecanos
You don't save the peace by breaking it ... I wish that men would
learn that simple lesson.
Inglis Fletcher [The Scotswoman (1954)]
Can any peace be dishonorable? How many more will die while the
[peace] negotiations plod along? I also wonder what would happen
if the widows of soldiers and the mothers of men who have died on
both sides sat down and talked peace. I feel they would cut right
through the ideological barriers that so often bog peace
processes down. Somehow I think they'd find an end to all this
with haste and without argument.
David K. Harford ["A Death on the Ho Chi Minh Trail"
(1999)]
Women think peace is valuable enough to preserve by not fighting
at all; and men believe that peace is important enough to protect
by fighting for it.
anonymous
Seek peace, and pursue it.
Psalms 34:14 Bible
This [assemblage of wounded and dead] was the glory of battle.
This was the end of the band playing, and the bright pennants
flying, and all the dreams of gallantry and personal triumph. A
man dreamed of glory, and it came to this. A [commander signaled]
..., and the regiment went into battle line. The voices of men
shouting out their power and their excitement. And afterwards,
the smoke and heat and dust folded over them, and death struck.
And long, later in the aftermath's stillness, men lay physically
and spiritually smashed ... and thought only of water, and rest,
and peace.
Ernest Haycox [Bugles in the Afternoon (1944)]
Before honor is humility.
Proverbs 15:33 Bible
To my mind, as you know, there's but one good reason for
fighting, but that reason is undeniable. It may be that only by
fighting can we bring peace to the land.
Inglis Fletcher [The Scotswoman (1954)]
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with
all men.
Romans 12:18 Bible
It is an honor for a man to cease from strife.
Proverbs 20:3 Bible
Peace, being more than the simple cessation of war, is poignantly
defined by whether the sentinels are facing out, or whether they
are facing in.
anonymous
Men were vessels, to carry the dreams of the race. The bright
visions of gallantry and courage and daring which made the light
stream fresh and quick. The steadfast visions of honor and
loyalty, and the great flame of faith. The good and the bad died
for those visions, never wholly realizing why they fought. The
good and the bad lived to enjoy the peace which came of nights
like these, never fully understanding how their peace was secured
for them. The name of this little battle in a remote western
valley would fade as time went on, until few people knew of it,
or the reason for it. But even if they forgot it, it would still
be a part of that red thread which ran continuously through the
fabric of the country. Battles of the past had stained the
thread, and this battle now would add its scarlet color ... and
other battles yet to come. Some of these battles were just, and
some were unjust. Some were necessary struggles of survival. Some
need never have been fought. But there was never any way of
knowing. A man was faithful and he fought, and had his hopes of
betterment. ... The just and the unjust, the faithful and the
crooked, the pure and the sinful. All were one; breathing a
common air and pacing a common earth. The most pure with his
temptations. And the most dissolute with his moments of grandeur.
All were one; walking forward through the sunlight and the dark.
Each with his end, but each a part of the light stream that came
out of time ... and went on into time. This was his country, and
this was his part and his place. ... Tonight the camp lay at
fitful rest, and each of the living nourished his memories, his
wishes, and his hatreds; but all were waiting together for
tomorrow. And again would stand together. Their lot was a common
one. The commonness of it made all of them good.
Ernest Haycox [Bugles in the Afternoon (1944)]
This war was a revolution against the moral basis of
civilization. It was conceived by the Nazis in conscious contempt
for the life, dignity and freedom of individual man and
deliberately prosecuted by means of slavery, starvation and the
mass destruction of noncombatants' lives. It was a revolution
against the human soul.
Time (14 May 1945)
As the past recedes from memory and takes form on the printed
page, historians and other commentators have begun to depict
victory in that terrible conflict in soft words. A number have
suggested that the Allied war effort was nothing more than the
opposite side of the same coin — that the Allied cause was
as morally bankrupt as the Axis cause, that an American or
British war crime can be found for every one committed by the
Germans or Japanese. Across the ledger from Nanking, Rotterdam,
Belgrade, Oradour-sur-Glane, or Malmëdy, they place the
Allies' refusal to bomb the rail lines to Auschwitz, the
starvation of German POWs at war's end, and the incineration of
Hiroshima — that worst of all "crimes against humanity."
These advocates for moral equivalence are wrong. In considering
the war's human cost, those of us privileged to live at the dawn
of a new millennium should renew our effort to remember why the
war was fought and why so many were called to pay the ultimate
price for victory. The wars unleashed by the Japanese in 1937 and
by the Germans in 1939 came close to destroying the two great
centers of world civilization and to imposing in their stead
imperial regimes founded on racial superiority, slavery, and
genocide. They did not succeed because of the extraordinary
efforts and sacrifices made by Allied soldiers, sailors, airmen,
and marines from around the world ....
Williamson Murray & Allan R. Millett [A War to
Be Won: Fighting the Second World War (2000)]
'Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances
with any portion of the foreign world.
George Washington (17 Sept 1796 Farewell Address)
Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been
unfurled, there will [America's] heart, her benedictions, and her
prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to
destroy.
John Quincy Adams (4 June 1821)
America is a nation with a mission, and that mission comes from
our most basic beliefs. We have no desire to dominate, no
ambitions of empire. Our aim is a democratic peace — a
peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman.
America acts in this cause with friends and allies at our side,
yet we understand our special calling: This great republic will
lead the cause of freedom.
George Walker Bush [State of the Union Address (20 Jan
2004)]
I think that a young state, like a young virgin, should
modestly stay at home, and wait the application of suitors for an
alliance with her; and not run about offering her amity to all
the world; and hazarding their refusal .... Our virgin is a
jolly one; and tho at present not very rich, will in time be a
great fortune, and where she has a favorable predisposition, it
seems to me well worth cultivating.
Benjamin Franklin (22 Sept 1778 letter)
An alliance is like a chain. It is not made stronger by adding
weak links to it. A great power like the United States gains no
advantage and it loses prestige by offering, indeed peddling, its
alliances to all and sundry. An alliance should be hard
diplomatic currency, valuable and hard to get, and not
inflationary paper from the mimeograph machine in the State
Department.
Walter Lippmann ((5 Aug 1952)
Union of the weakest develops strength
Not wisdom. Can all men, together, avenge
One of the leaves that have fallen in autumn?
But the wise man avenges by building his city in snow.
Wallace Stevens [Like Decorations in a Nigger
Cemetery in Ideas of Order (1936)]
There is a difference, however, between leading a coalition of
many nations, and submitting to the objections of a few. America
will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our
country.
George Walker Bush [State of the Union Address (20 Jan
2004)]
Alliance: In international politics, the union of two thieves who
have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pockets that
they cannot separately plunder a third.
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce
Our nation is strong and steadfast. The cause we serve is right,
because it is the cause of all mankind. The momentum of freedom
in our world is unmistakable — and it is not carried
forward by our power alone. We can trust in that greater
power who guides the unfolding of the years. And in all that
is to come, we can know that His purposes are just and true. May
God continue to bless America.
George Walker Bush [State of the Union Address (20 Jan
2004)]
compiled by Ed Staff
|
|