evidence: FACT CHECK: Did Plato Say ‘Only The Dead Have Seen The End Of War’? A post shared on Facebook alleges that ancient Greek philosopher Plato once stated, "Only the dead have seen the end of war." [...] The quote has also been ascribed to Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana, though it’s unclear if he coined the expression. It appears in his 1922 book "Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies," where he writes without attributing it to another source, "Only the dead are safe; only the dead have seen the end of war."