“Never has America lost a war ... But name, if you can, the last peace the United States won. Victory yes, but this country has never made a successful peace because peace requires exchanging ideas, concepts, thoughts, and recognizing the fact that two distinct systems of life can exist together without conflict. Consider how quickly America seems to be facing its allies of one war as new enemies.”

Vine Deloria Jr.
Life Success Positive

Explore This Quote Further

Quote by Vine Deloria Jr.: “Never has America lost a war ... But name, if yo… - Image 1

Similar quotes

“When asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before the white men came, an Indian said simply "Ours.”


“These Indians are fierce, they wear feathers and grunt. Most of us dont fit this idealized figure since we grunt only when overeating”


“Religion is for people who're afraid of going to hell. Spirituality is for those who've already been there.”


“Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.”


“War is becoming an anachronism; if we have battled in every part of the continent it was because two opposing social orders were facing each other, the one which dates from 1789, and the old regime. They could not exist together; the younger devoured the other. I know very well, that, in the final reckoning, it was war that overthrew me, me the representative of the French Revolution, and the instrument of its principles. But no matter! The battle was lost for civilization, and civilization will inevitably take its revenge. There are two systems, the past and the future. The present is only a painful transition. Which must triumph? The future, will it not? Yes indeed, the future! That is, intelligence, industry, and peace. The past was brute force, privilege, and ignorance. Each of our victories was a triumph for the ideas of the Revolution. Victories will be won, one of these days, without cannon, and without bayonets.”


“They won the war but lost the peace,”