War is mankind's most tragic and stupid folly; to seek or advise its deliberate provocation is a black crime against all men. Though you follow the trade of the warrior, you do so in the spirit of Washington -- not of Genghis Khan. For Americans, only threat to our way of life justifies resort to conflict.

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"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. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people…This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Awareness

"Independence Day: freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed — else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Belief

"Only our individual faith in freedom can keep us free."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Belief

"Never waste a minute thinking about anyone you dislike."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Self-awareness

"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Courage

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"It is at the moment of death that humanity has value."

- Archer

Philosophy

"Religion, ideology, resources, land, spite, love or just because… No matter how pathetic the reason, it’s enough to start a war. War will never cease to exist… reasons can be thought up after the fact… Human nature pursues strife."

- Paine

Philosophy

"Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we’re here for something else besides ourselves."

- Eric Sevareid

Philosophy

"Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

- Theodor Seuss Geisel

Philosophy

"Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home."

- G.K. Chesterton

Philosophy