50 WW1 Quotes About the War That Impacted the World

History buffs will enjoy learning more about World War I through these WW1 quotes!

WW1 is also known as World War I or the First World War.

This historic war lasted from 1914 to 1918, and the fighting took place throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Pacific.

The two coalitions involved in the war were called the Allies and the Central Powers.

The Allies consisted of the following countries:

• United States
• France
• United Kingdom
• Italy
• Russia
• Japan

The Central Powers were composed of the following countries:

• Germany
• Bulgaria
• Austria-Hungary
• Ottoman Empire

There had been tension in Europe for years, but in 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated.

This was the final driving force for war, and Austria-Hungary recruited Germany to help attack Serbia, and World War I began.

Take a few minutes to read these WW1 quotes to learn more about this tragic war.

Best WW1 Quotes

Here are some of the best quotes about the Great War.

1. “This is a war to end all wars.” — Woodrow Wilson

2. “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” — George Santayana

3. “The cries of the wounded had much diminished now.” — Edwin Vaughan

4. “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.” — Laurence Binyon

5. “War does not determine who is right – only who is left.” — Bertrand Russell

6. “I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask: “‘Mother, what was war?’” — Eve Merriam

7. “I’m fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.” — George McGovern

8. “Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” — Ernest Hemingway

9. “Casualties many; percentage of dead not known; combat efficiency; we are winning.” — David M. Shoup

10. “Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.” — Laurence Binyon

WW1 Quotes From Winston Churchill

As an important voice at the time, Churchill had much to say about the war.

11. “The whole map of Europe has been changed.” — Winston Churchill

12. “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” — Winston Churchill

13. “Business carried on as usual during alterations on the map of Europe.” — Winston Churchill

14. “Nothing will bring American sympathy along with us so much as American bloodshed in the field.” — Winston Churchill

15. “The phrase ‘the war to end war’ was on every lip, and measures had been taken to turn it into reality.” — Winston Churchill

16. “The victorious Allies were at that time all-powerful, so far as their outside enemies were concerned.” — Winston Churchill

17. “The Great War differed from all ancient wars in the immense power of the combatants and their fearful agencies of destruction.” — Winston Churchill

18. “After the end of the World War of 1914, there was a deep conviction and almost universal hope that peace would reign in the world.” — Winston Churchill

19. “No compromise on the main purpose; no peace till victory; no pact with unrepentant wrong — that is the Declaration of July 4th, 1918.” — Winston Churchill

20. “Europe and large parts of Asia and Africa became one vast battlefield on which after years of struggle not armies but nations broke and ran.” — Winston Churchill

Thought-Provoking WW1 Quotes

As you read through these WW1-centered quotes, take time to ponder on them.

21. “[I] like the American soldier individually but do not like the nation as a whole.” — Frau Frieda Fischer

22. “The war was undoubtedly the most profound and inescapable influence on writers in the 1920s.” — Paul Brody

23. “The First World War was a horror of gas, industrialized slaughter fear, and appalling human suffering.” — Nick Harkaway

24. “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

25. “One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.” — Agatha Christie

26. “I wish those people who talk about going on with this war whatever it costs could see the soldiers suffering from mustard gas poisoning.” — Vera Brittain

27. “There are no humane methods of warfare, there is no such thing as civilized warfare; all warfare is inhuman, all warfare is barbaric.” — James Connolly

28. “The protagonists of 1914 were sleepwalkers, watchful but unseeing, haunted by dreams, yet blind to the reality of the horror they were about to bring into the world.” — Christopher Clark

29. “In retrospect, Jean Jaurès and Rosa Luxemburg seem to me the only delegates who, like Adler, realized fully the inevitability of the World War and the horrors it entailed.” — Angelica Balabanoff

30. “The colored people have repeatedly proved their devotion to the high ideals of our country. They gave their services in the war with the same patriotism and readiness that other citizens did.” — Calvin Coolidge

WW1 Quotes From Woodrow Wilson

As U.S. President during World War I, Woodrow Wilson had many iconic quotes. 

31. “The thing to do is to supply light and not heat.” — Woodrow Wilson

32. “Politics is a war of causes; a joust of principles.” — Woodrow Wilson

33. “One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels.” — Woodrow Wilson

34. “It is not an army that we must train for war; it is a nation.” — Woodrow Wilson

35. “Men are not put into this world to go the path of ease; they are put into this world to go the path of pain and struggle.” — Woodrow Wilson

36. “There is a price which is too great to pay for peace, and that price can be put in one word. One cannot pay the price of self-respect.” — Woodrow Wilson

37. “I came from the South, and I know what war is, for I have seen its wreckage and terrible ruin. It is easy for me as President to declare war.” — Woodrow Wilson

38. “We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make.” — Woodrow Wilson

39. “The Government of the United States would be constrained to hold the Imperial German government to a strict accountability for such acts of their naval authorities.” — Woodrow Wilson

40. “I am not one of those who believes that a great standing army is the means of maintaining peace, because if you build up a great profession, those who form parts of it want to exercise their profession.” — Woodrow Wilson

More WW1 Quotes

Enjoy some more World War I Quotes!

41. “This is not a peace. It is an armistice for 20 years.” — Ferdinand Foch

42. “Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with.” — George S. Patton

43. “The world must know what happened, and never forget.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

44. “We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.” — Jimmy Carter

45. “Let us, therefore, brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves.” — Winston Churchill

46. “It was a time of youth and war, and there was never so much love around.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

47. “Rats came up from the canal, fed on the plentiful corpses, and multiplied exceedingly.” — Robert Graves

48. “The success with which we have met in all of these undertakings is a matter of universal knowledge. We are at peace with all the world.” — Calvin Coolidge

49. “The puritanical, conservative value system of America was stifling after the soldiers’ experience in Europe. At the same time, corruption at all levels of government was commonplace.” — Paul Brody

50. “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

How Did World War 1 End?

America got involved in the war in 1917 after numerous American ships were sunk, and by that point, all of the world’s superpowers were involved in the war.

The war left over 16 million soldiers and civilians dead, and only after Germany and the Allies agreed to end the war did the war come to an end.

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