---
title: "1 War Takes Quotes By Bruce Catton"
description: "1 War Takes quotes by Bruce Catton. Plus more from Bruce Catton and more War Takes sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bb8/bruce-catton-15493_conclusion_a-singular-fact-about-modern-war-is-that_1829101.jpg"
---

> [A singular fact about modern war is that it takes charge. Once begun it has to be carried to its conclusion, and carrying it there sets in motion events that may be beyond men's control. Doing what has to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/a-singular-fact-about-modern-war-is-that-it-takes-charge-once-begun/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bb8/bruce-catton-15493_conclusion_a-singular-fact-about-modern-war-is-that_1829101.jpg)

## More by Bruce Catton

> [ Beneath everything else, North and West, there ran a profound, unvoiced, almost subconscious conviction that the \[American\] nation was going to go on growing-in… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/beneath-everything-else-north-and-west-there-ran-a-profound-unvoiced/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [The 1860 election became a referendum on the southern way of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/the-1860-election-became-a-referendum-on-the-southern-way-of-life/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [What began as a bitter dispute over Union and States' Rights, ended as a struggle over the meaning of freedom in America. At Gettysburg…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/what-began-as-a-bitter-dispute-over-union-and-states-rights-ended-as/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [And there is the headlight, shining far down the track, glinting off the steel rails that, like all parallel lines, will meet in infinity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/and-there-is-the-headlight-shining-far-down-the-track-glinting-off/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [The Civil War was fought in 10,000 places, from Valverde, New Mexico, and Tullahoma, Tennessee, to St. Albans, Vermont, and Fernandina on the Florida…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/the-civil-war-was-fought-in-10-000-places-from-valverde-new-mexico/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Even the most painstaking history is a bridge across an eternal mystery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/even-the-most-painstaking-history-is-a-bridge-across-an-eternal/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Shiloh had as many casualties as Waterloo, and yet there were another 20 Waterloos to come.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/shiloh-had-as-many-casualties-as-waterloo-and-yet-there-were-another/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [“The end of the war was like the beginning, with the army marching down the open road under the spring sky, seeing a far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/the-end-of-the-war-was-like-the-beginning-with-the-army-marching-down/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [“Early youth is a baffling time. The present moment is nice but it does not last. Living in it is like waiting in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/early-youth-is-a-baffling-time-the-present-moment-is-nice-but-it-does/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Here was the greatest and most moving chapter in American history, a blending of meanness and greatness, an ending and a beginning. It came…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/here-was-the-greatest-and-most-moving-chapter-in-american-history-a/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [The present moment is nice but it does not last. Living in it is like waiting in a junction town for the morning limited;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/the-present-moment-is-nice-but-it-does-not-last-living-in-it-is-like/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Like most Rebel soldiers, Sam Watkins owned no slaves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/like-most-rebel-soldiers-sam-watkins-owned-no-slaves/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Abraham Lincoln was not all brooding and melancholy and patient understanding. There was a hard core in him, and plenty of toughness. He could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/abraham-lincoln-was-not-all-brooding-and-melancholy-and-patient/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Sooner or later you must move down an unknown road that leads beyond the range of the imagination, and the only certainty is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/sooner-or-later-you-must-move-down-an-unknown-road-that-leads-beyond/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

> [Men see things late, and it may be that at times an evil fate drives them on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-catton/men-see-things-late-and-it-may-be-that-at-times-an-evil-fate-drives/)

[Bruce Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-catton/)

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