Leon Trotsky

From being a patriotic myth, the Russian people have become an awful reality.

The United States is not only the strongest, but also the most terrified country.

Workers – men and women – of all countries, place yourselves under the banner of the Fourth International. It is the banner of your approaching victory!

Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws.

Our planet is being turned into a filthy and evil-smelling imperialist barrack.

Events can neither be regarded as a series of adventures nor strung on the thread of a preconceived moral. They must obey their own laws.

The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.

Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.

Once war is forced upon us, there is no alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end. War’s very object is victory-not prolonged indecision.

The enemy is anybody who’s going to get you killed, no matter which side he’s on.

What is human warfare but just this; an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party.

I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.

We had 10 years after the Cold War to build a new world order and yet we squandered them. The United States cannot tolerate anyone acting independently. Every US president has to have a war.

The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.

That’s what an army is – a mob; they don’t fight with courage that’s born in them, but with courage that’s borrowed from their mass, and from their officers.

The strongest of all warriors are these two – Time and Patience.

It is fatal to enter an war without the will to win it.

I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they’d never expect it.

War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can’t smile, grin. If you can’t grin, keep out of the way till you can.

Mine is the first generation able to contemplate the possibility that we may live our entire lives without going to war or sending our children to war.

People didn’t want war. We were forced in it. How fast we finish it depends on how free a hand our generals and admirals have. The less interference they get from the politicians the quicker they’ll end it.