Context

This famous line is spoken by President Merkin Muffley, played by Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (directed by Stanley Kubrick, 1964).

There are certain places in this world that are so solemn, so dignified, that one should never dare strike another in them. The Sistine Chapel. A Buddhist temple. The War Room…

Wait. Hold up. If you can't get into a rumble with someone in a place called a War Room… where can you get your violence on?

And, of course that's the joke. When President Muffley tries to break up a scuffle between a high-ranking general and the Russian ambassador, he utters this enduring classic of a line, oblivious to the irony. The popularity of the quote is probably not only due to the brilliance of the writing, but also to Sellers' spot-on, straight-faced delivery.

If you're not familiar with the work of Mr. Sellers, stop everything you're doing right now and start a marathon. You'll come out the other side a much improved human being.

Where you've heard it

The quote—and the movie as a whole—definitely has plenty to say about the disconnect between people shouting out orders from the safety and security of their protective little Washington D.C. bubble and the men and women overseas actually fighting those battles. So it should come as no surprise that the line has been referenced in books about the crossover between war and attitudes toward war as expressed in pop culture and other published articles.

Or, you know, any time two dudes are fighting.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

While there are no SAT words in this line, it's relying on irony for a laugh… and irony is pretty dang pretentious.