Collateral Damage Quotes

“I'll be your mess, you be mine
That was the deal that we had signed”
― Gayle Forman, Where She Went

“Sometimes we are just the collateral damage in someone else's war against themselves.”
― Lauren Eden

“I absolutely refuse to associate myself with anyone who cannot discern the essential night-and-day difference between theocratic fascism and liberal secular democracy, even less do I want to engage with those who are incapable of recognizing the basic moral distinction between premeditated mass murder and unintentional killing.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left

“Maxim 28:
If the price of collateral damage is high enough, you might be able to get paid for bringing ammunition home with you.

-The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries”
― Howard Tayler

“Be willing to give, but only when you aren't expecting anything in return.”
― Criss Jami, Healology

“People at war with themselves will always cause collateral damage in the lives of those around them.”
― John Mark Green

“Let us also acknowledge that the hearts which suffer the most from our wars are those of mothers. Their vital voices have been left out of the political equation for too long. An Iraqi or American mother cries the same as an Israeli or Afghan mother. The eyes of a mother who has suffered the loss of a child can destroy the soul of anyone who gazes upon them. More souls become casualties of war than physical bodies. War is a soul-shattering experience for the innocent.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“Nothing in Chomsky's account acknowledges the difference between intending to kill a child, because of the effect you hope to produce on its parents (we call this "terrorism"), and inadvertently killing a child in an attempt to capture or kill an avowed child murderer (we call this "collateral damage"). In both cases a child has died, and in both cases it is a tragedy. But the ethical status of the perpetrators, be they individuals or states, could not be more distinct... For Chomsky, intentions do not seem to matter. Body count is all.”
― Sam Harris, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

“As he once wrote of Kipling, his own enduring influence can be measured by a number of terms and phrases—doublethink, thought police, 'Some animals are more equal than others'—that he embedded in our language and in our minds. In Orwell's own mind there was an inextricable connection between language and truth, a conviction that by using plain and unambiguous words one could forbid oneself the comfort of certain falsehoods and delusions. Every time you hear a piece of psychobabble or propaganda—'people's princess,' say, or 'collateral damage,' or 'peace initiative'—it is good to have a well-thumbed collection of his essays nearby. His main enemy in discourse was euphemism, just as his main enemy in practice was the abuse of power, and (more important) the slavish willingness of people to submit to it.”
― Christopher Hitchens

“The costs of achieving justice matter. Another way of saying the same thing is that “justice at all costs” is not justice. What, after all, is an injustice but the arbitrary imposition of a cost—whether economic, psychic, or other—on an innocent person? And if correcting this injustice imposes another arbitrary cost on another innocent person, is that not also an injustice?”
― Thomas Sowell, The Quest for Cosmic Justice

“Just then, Larry recalled a conversation he had with a friend in Ireland, about the situation in Nepal between the King and the Maoists. The friend was sided with the Maoists, which was more or less his political leanings in any case, and stated that at least they were trying to help the people. So Larry had remarked upon the rising death rate, and how the Maoists are just as brutal as the security forces, yet the friend simply shrugged and said you have to expect some collateral damage in a revolution.
Oh how he hates that phrase, as that makes it sound like the people’s lives are meant to be expendable, something that a person’s life should never be. Of course, it is very easy to disregard people you have never met, and who are certainly not your friends or family members. After all, in the eyes of an outsider, who is in no danger whatsoever, the people caught up in the situation are nothing more than simply statistics.”
― Andrew James Pritchard, Not Collateral Damage

“When a righteous person lives in a sick household, everyone suffers—the innocent along with the guilty.
Lamentations, pg 1”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Lamentations: how narcissistic leaders torment church and family

“How many times do I have to say I’m sorry before you believe it? That I acknowledge I made a terrible mistake and have done everything I know how to fix it? How can you just freeze me out after that and walk away from everything we had?”
Hurt and resentment swelled inside him, mixing with the anger in a toxic, chaotic mess. “You walked away first,” he shot back. “That was your choice.” Then I made mine. It was a low blow, even if it was true. But he refused to feel guilty about it, even under the circumstances. He hadn’t wanted to have this conversation, but she’d insisted, and he wouldn’t lie to her about the way things stood.
Honor’s chin came up, her tears evaporating as her eyes sparked with fresh anger. “I did,” she admitted quietly, her control merely emphasizing the loss of his own. “I did walk away and it was the absolute worst mistake of my life. I’m sorry, Liam. See? I’m a big enough person to admit it to your face. Are you?”
― Kaylea Cross, Collateral Damage

“When it happens against us, it is a war crime. When it happens against our enemy, it is collateral damage.”
― Shon Mehta, Lair Of The Monster

“There is a violent chemistry beneath romantic emotions which is never conducted without collateral damage.”
― Sean Norris, Heaven and Hurricanes

“We play with the gifts the Gods bestow upon us . And who are they to us? Either carpets to our thrones or casualties on the way.”
― Gourav Mohanty, Sons of Darkness

“He asks me if I'd ever killed someone and rushes from the kitchen table, but I ask him to stay, to listen.
"Collateral Damage," I say, "is the polite way of expressing the death of civilians who unknowingly mingle with the enemy."
He's thirteen now, fascinated with video games glamorizing real wars. I rise to leave, and he says, "But Dad, you didn't answer my question."
I did.”
― Christopher P Collins, My American Night

“To get into debt with assets can set you up. You’ll sweat from onset till threats upset you. Forget not that those who get it regret it.”
― Vincent Okay Nwachukwu, Weighty 'n' Worthy African Proverbs - Volume 1

“Minimal collateral damage" and "entire star system" do not belong in the same sentence.
— an UNS marine”
― Howard Tayler, Resident Mad Scientist

“Sometimes it takes courage and more nerve to shy or run away for the sake of peace and minimum collateral damages. Pacifists at times demonstrate bigger heart than violent aggressors.”
― Dr. Lucas D. Shallua

“”
― Gourav Mohanty, Sons of Darkness

“No innocent must die, no matter the cause.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn

“There is no such thing as "collateral damage" in war—only damage.”
― Maureen Burdock, Queen of Snails: A Graphic Memoir