Another term for preventive war is aggressive war - starting wars because someday somebody might do something to us. That is not part of the American tradition.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The target of preventive war must have several characteristics. It must be virtually defenceless; it must be important enough to be worth the trouble; it must be possible to portray it as the ultimate evil and an imminent threat to our survival.
Preventing a war is tantamount to winning a war.
When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war.
War is no picnic. Wars should be prevented, and if you can't prevent them, you have to put them off.
I think that Americans - and this is not true just now, but over the years - are not fundamentally opposed to war. They're fundamentally opposed to losing wars.
The surest way to prevent war is not to fear it.
War can be prevented only by broad-minded statesmanship - a statesmanship that understands how to enlist people's interests in a leading cause.
We can best help you to prevent war not by repeating your words and following your methods but by finding new words and creating new methods.
At present, the most effective way of preventing war would be for statesmen to direct politics so as to support a sound nationalism. This leads to concordance between people of kindred race and languages, whereas the conquest and coercion of people of different race and language inevitably lead to new wars.
There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.