Who said “What the horrors of war are, no one can imagine. They are not wounds and blood and…”?

Verified

Florence Nightingale. A published source records them saying or writing it.

SourceLetter (5 May 1855), published in Florence Nightingale : An Introduction to Her Life and Family (2001), edited by Lynn McDonald, p. 141

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“What the horrors of war are, no one can imagine. They are not wounds and blood and fever, spotted and low, or dysentery, chronic and acute, cold and heat and famine. They are intoxication, drunken brutality, demoralization and disorder on the part of the inferior... jealousies, meanness, indifference, selfish brutality on the part of the superior.”
— Florence Nightingale
VerifiedLetter (5 May 1855), published in Florence Nightingale : An Introduction to Her Life and Family (2001), edited by Lynn McDonald, p. 141 · evidenceWar

Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: Letter (5 May 1855), published in Florence Nightingale : An Introduction to Her Life and Family (2001), edited by Lynn McDonald, p. 141.

APA

Nightingale, F. (n.d.). What the horrors of war are, no one can imagine. They are not wounds and blood and fever, spotted and low, or dysentery, chronic and acute, cold and heat and famine. They are intoxication, drunken brutality, demoralization and disorder on the part of the inferior... jealousies, meanness, indifference, selfish brutality on the part of the superior. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/41759-what-the-horrors-of-war-are-no-one/

MLA

Nightingale, Florence. “What the horrors of war are, no one can imagine. They are not wounds and blood and fever, spotted and low, or dysentery, chronic and acute, cold and heat and famine. They are intoxication, drunken brutality, demoralization and disorder on the part of the inferior... jealousies, meanness, indifference, selfish brutality on the part of the superior.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/41759-what-the-horrors-of-war-are-no-one/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Nightingale, Florence. “What the horrors of war are, no one can imagine. They are not wounds and blood and fever, spotted and low, or dysentery, chronic and acute, cold and heat and famine. They are intoxication, drunken brutality, demoralization and disorder on the part of the inferior... jealousies, meanness, indifference, selfish brutality on the part of the superior.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/41759-what-the-horrors-of-war-are-no-one/.

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“Instead of wishing to see more doctors made by women joining what there are, I wish to see as few doctors, either male or female, as possible. For, mark you, the women have made no improvement -- they have only tried to be ''men'' and they have only succeeded in being third-rate men.”
VerifiedLetter to John Stuart Mill (12 September 1860), published in Florence Nightingale on Society and Politics, Philosophy, Science, Education (2003) edited by Lynn McDonald · evidenceDetails & citeDoctors
“How very little can be done under the spirit of fear.”
Fear
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Medicine
“Women have no sympathy and my experience of women is almost as large as Europe.”
Sympathy
“I think one's feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions which bring results.”
Talkativeness
“The martyr sacrifices themselves entirely in vain. Or rather not in vain; for they make the selfish more selfish, the lazy more lazy, the narrow narrower.”
Martyrdom
All 7 Florence Nightingale quotes →