Bleys

“Short as our time is, there is no man, whether it be here among this multitude or elsewhere, who is so happy, as not to have felt the wish—I will not say once, but full many a time —that he were dead rather than alive. Calamities fall upon us, sicknesses vex and harass us, and make life, short though it be, to appear long. So death, through the wretchedness of our life, is a most sweet refuge to our race: and god, who gives us the tastes that we enjoy of pleasant times, is seen, in his very gift, to be envious.”
― Artabanus of Persia

“States are like gamblers; they lie themselves into believing that they have any amount in their pockets, and when a number turns up for them they think that they have won. Is it possible that any people can show, or will ever be able to show, a gain, whether it be in land, subjects, war indemnity, trade advantages, alliances, or whatever it may be, that will compensate for the losses that every nation has suffered through the time the game has lasted?”
― Rudolf Binding, A Fatalist at War

“While a battle is raging one can see his enemy mowed down by the thousand, or the ten thousand, with great composure; but after the battle these scenes are distressing, and one is naturally disposed to do as much to alleviate the suffering of an enemy as a friend.”
― Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant: All Volumes

“Let us learn our lessons. Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on that strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The Statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.”
― Winston Churchill, My Early Life