posted May 13, 2007 03:53 AM            

We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre. ~Dick Gregory

Most history is guessing, and the rest is prejudice. ~Will and Ariel Durant, Our Oriental Heritage

Woe unto the defeated,
whom history treads
into the dust.
~Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon

It might be a good idea if the various countries of the world would occasionally swap history books, just to see what other people are doing with the same set of facts. ~Bill Vaughan

“History is written by the victors.” - Winston Churchill

"The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice." - MARK TWAIN, Following the Equator

posted May 13, 2007 01:38 PM            

Eleanore I found that one finally late last night but my daughter was up sick so I didn't get a chance to come back to the thread. I noticed it was originally written by the person you quoted and then re-written by someone else. Well actually, after I cut and pasted these I'm looking at them and I guess I have no idea who wrote it first.
Anyway, you are awesome to help.

One murder made a villain,
Millions a hero.--Princes were privileg'd
To kill, and numbers sanctified the crime.
Ah! why will kings forget that they are men,
And men that they are brethren?
- Bishop Beilby Porteus, Death (l. 154)

Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a god.
- Jean Rostand

One kills a man, one is an assassin; one kills millions, one is a conqueror; one kills everybody, one is a god.
- Jean Rostand

Kill a man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a god.
- Jean Rostand, Pensees D'un Biologiste

I don't know if I am making the missing "quote" up in my mind or what, I know that the above quote was pushing for dominance in my mind at the time and one of the quotes that AG gave also is part of what I am thinking.

We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre. ~Dick Gregory

This is all brought about by my reading this biography on Lincoln (for an easy project) and having some sympathy for Bush (that I absolutely had NONE of before) when I saw all of the smear campaigning and opposition to Lincoln and the horrible and tough decisions he had to make to bring about the change he accomplished. (Lincoln is an Aquarius, remember.) If we would have lost the war, I am sure Lincoln would not be regarded as the hero he is today, and that is why I was trying to find the "quote" that I think is out there that is just perfect to explain all of that in one concise line.

posted May 14, 2007 06:46 PM              

Actually to many instances in our lives as well.

The enemy is anybody who’s going to get you killed, no matter which side he’s on. --Joseph Heller Catch 22

There was only one catch and that was Catch22, which specified that a concern for one’s safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask, and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. --Joseph Heller Catch 22

Don't know for sure who said this but I think it's the way corporations, the media and the government see us all:

Keep the people's minds on their bellies and their genitals, and you can eventually enslave them.

posted May 14, 2007 08:09 PM            

That^ was one of the favorites that I found. I wasn't going to post it because I'm basically a pacifistic commie indebted to those who pay attention and will stand up and fight when they think it is necessary... but since you mentioned it....
"Put your trust in God; but be sure to keep your powder dry."
Oliver Cromwell

posted May 14, 2007 09:09 PM            

What a cruel thing is war:
to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world

US Grant

“I have never advocated war except as a means of peace.”

edited*

posted May 14, 2007 11:07 PM              

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner. --General Omar Bradley

In time of war the first casualty is truth. --Boake Carter

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. --Albert Einstein

Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them! --Albert Einstein

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. --Lord Acton Insanity in individuals is something rare -- but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. --Nietzsche

War is delightful to those who have no experience of it. --Desiderius Erasmus

posted May 14, 2007 11:48 PM            

Ok then...

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other ******* die for his.
George S. Patton, Jr.

and here's another:

"Their sword will become our plow, and from the tears of war the daily bread of future generations will grow."

Guess who said THAT ^...
or Google it

posted May 15, 2007 01:25 AM            

There are two ways that religion is brought into public life in American history. The first way — God on our side — leads inevitably to triumphalism, self-righteousness, bad theology, and often, dangerous foreign policy. The second way — asking if we are on God's side — leads to much healthier things, namely, penitence and even repentance, humility, reflection, and even accountability. We need much more of all these, because these are often the missing values of politics.
-- Jim Wallis, "God's Politics"

I have more respect for people who change their views after acquiring new information than for those who cling to views they held thirty years ago. The world changes. Ideologues and zealots don't...

I am certain there is too much certainty in the world.
-- Michael Crichton, "State of Fear"

The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.
-- Justice Louis D. Brandeis

dulce bellum inexpertis [War is sweet to the inexperienced.]
-- Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch humanist, ca. 1466 - 1536

posted May 15, 2007 02:02 AM              

War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.
Jimmy Carter

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.
John F. Kennedy

It is only the dead who have seen the end of war.
Plato

A country cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.
Albert Einstein

A lot of wonderful people love their country and hate the military.
Bill Clinton

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 not clothed.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object.
Abraham Lincoln

posted May 15, 2007 02:39 AM            

Just kidding.

As soon as war is looked upon as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.
Oscar Wilde

posted May 15, 2007 02:43 AM            

One more from Hitler that applies to what I was originally searching for but did not find...

"The victor will never be asked if he told the truth."
Adolf Hitler

posted May 15, 2007 11:34 PM              

I have Googled all kinds of Lincoln things but haven't found the quote either.

Another one from "Catch 22"