Peace is an occurrence of harmony characterized by the lack of violence, conflict behaviors and the freedom from fear of violence. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility and retribution, peace also suggests sincere attempts at reconciliation, the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the establishment of equality, and a working political order that serves the true interests of all.

A

• Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all that they are.
  • Hafsat Abiola, in an essay at Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, also quoted in Architects of Peace: Visions of Hope in Words and Images (2000), edited by Michael Collopy

• This hand, to tyrants ever sworn the foe,
  For freedom only deals the deadly blow;
  Then sheathes in calm repose the vengeful blade,
  For gentle peace in freedom's hallowed shade.
  • John Quincy Adams, written in an Album, as quoted in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 588-91

• Two sorts of peace are more to be dreaded than all the troubles in the world — peace with sin, and peace in sin.
  • Joseph Alleine, An Alarm to Unconverted Sinners (first published 1671), p. 143

• Lasting peace is sought, it is essential to adopt international measures to improve the lot of the masses. The welfare of the entire human race must replace hunger and oppression. People of the world must be taught to give up envy, avarice and rancour.
  • Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as quoted in I. Milletlerarası Gençlik Kongresi [First International Youth Congress] (1988) by Selçuk University, p. 19

• Peace at Home, Peace in the World.
  • Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as quoted in many sources including, Atatürk (1963) by Uluğ İğdemir, p. 200; and Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus (2000) by Svante E. Cornell, p. 287; this later became the motto of the Republic of Turkey.

• There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they grow up in peace.
  • Kofi Annan, in "Foreword" to The State of the World's Children 2000 (2000)

• Where there is no justice there can be no secure peace.
  • Aung San Suu Kyi, "In Quest of Democracy" (1991)

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that 'if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression', human rights should be protected by the rule of law. That just laws which uphold human rights are the necessary foundation of peace and security would be denied only by closed minds which interpret peace as the silence of all opposition and security as the assurance of their own power.
  • Aung San Suu Kyi, "In Quest of Democracy" (1991)

B

Peace is never long preserved by weight of metal or by an armament race. Peace can be made tranquil and secure only by understanding and agreement fortified by sanctions. We must embrace international cooperation or international disintegration. ~ Bernard Baruch

The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. ~ Black Elk

Better than a thousand hollow words
Is one word that brings peace.
Better than a thousand hollow verses
Is one verse that brings peace. ~ Gautama Buddha

• Peace is never long preserved by weight of metal or by an armament race. Peace can be made tranquil and secure only by understanding and agreement fortified by sanctions. We must embrace international cooperation or international disintegration. Science has taught us how to put the atom to work. But to make it work for good instead of for evil lies in the domain dealing with the principles of human dignity. We are now facing a problem more of ethics than of physics.
  • Bernard Baruch, Address to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (14 June 1946)

• The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes from within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which is within the souls of men.
  • Black Elk in The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux (1953)

• The fiercest agonies have shortest reign;
  And after dreams of horror, comes again
  The welcome morning with its rays of peace.
  • William Cullen Bryant, in "Mutation. A Sonnet" (1824), line 4

• Better than a thousand hollow words
  Is one word that brings peace.

  Better than a thousand hollow verses
  Is one verse that brings peace.

  Better than a hundred hollow lines
  Is one line of the law, bringing peace.

  • Gautama Buddha in "The Thousands" from the Dhammapada as translated by Thomas Byrom

• The world and its peoples being as they are, there is no easy or quick or infallible approach to a secure peace. It is only by patient, persistent, undismayed effort, by trial and error, that peace can be won. Nor can it be won cheaply, as the taxpayer is learning.
  • Ralph Bunche, Nobel Lecture "Some Reflections on Peace in Our Time" on December 11, 1950

• No matter what someone else has done, it still matters how we treat people. It matters to our humanity that we treat offenders according to standards that we recognize as just. Justice is not revenge — it's deciding for a solution that is oriented towards peace, peace being the harder but more human way of reacting to injury. That is the very basis of the idea of rights.
  • Judith Butler, interview in The Believer Magazine - Issue 2

• The trenchant blade Toledo trusty,
  For want of fighting was grown rusty,
  And ate into itself for lack
  Of somebody to hew and hack.
  • Samuel Butler, Hudibras, Part I (1663-64), Canto I, line 359

• Mark! where his carnage and his conquests cease,
  He makes a solitude and calls it—peace!
  • Lord Byron, Bride of Abydos (1813), Canto II, Stanza 20

• Oh that the desert were my dwelling-place!
  • Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto IV (1818), line 177

C

• Nec sidera pacem
  Semper habent.
  • Nor is heaven always at peace.
  • Claudianus, De Bello Getico, LXII

• My name is Charles Xavier. I am a mutant. And once upon a time I had a dream... of a world where all Earth's children, both mutant and baseline human, might live together in peace. This isn't it. This is today's reality.
  • Chris Claremont Excalibur Vol 3 #1

• Peace cannot just be wished; it involves hard work, courage and persistence... Let us harness our collective energies to create a culture of peace and a land of prosperity.
  • Arthur C. Clarke, as quoted in the "Sri Lanka" in Sunday Times (31 December 2000).

• The gentleman [Josiah Quincy] cannot have forgotten his own sentiment, uttered even on the floor of this House, "Peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must."
  • Henry Clay, speech on the New Army Bill (1813)

• I craved for peace, and priceless years expended
    In unrewarded search from shore to shore;
  But home returned, the weary seeking ended,
    Peace welcomed me where dwelt my peace of yore!
  • From "I longed for Love" (1903) by Florence Earle Coates

• My goal is peace,—not peace at any price,
    While yet ensanguined jaws of Evil yawn
  Hungry and pitiless: Nay, peace were vice
    Until the cruel dragon-teeth be drawn,
  And the wronged victims of Oppression be
  Delivered from its hateful rule, and free!
  • From "The New Mars" (1915) by Florence Earle Coates

• Peace rules the day, where reason rules the mind.
  • William Collins, Eclogue II, Hassan, line 68

• Our inhabitants are especially free to promote their own welfare. They are unburdened by militarism. They are not called upon to support any imperialistic designs. Every mother can rest in the assurance that her children will find here a land of devotion, prosperity and peace. The tall shaft near which we are gathered and yonder stately memorial remind us that our standards of manhood are revealed in the adoration which we pay to Washington and Lincoln. They are unrivaled and unsurpassed. Above all else, they are Americans.
  • Calvin Coolidge, Address before the Holy Name Society, Washington, D.C., (21 September 1924).

• When things are investigated, then true knowledge is achieved; when true knowledge is achieved, then the will becomes sincere; when the will is sincere, then the heart is set right (or then the mind sees right); when the heart is set right, then the personal life is cultivated; when the personal life is cultivated, then the family life is regulated; when the family life is regulated, then the national life is orderly; and when the national life is orderly, then there is peace in this world.
  • Confucius, Liki (Record of Rites), chapter 42; in Lin Yutang, ed. and trans., The Wisdom of Confucius (1938), chapter 4, p. 139–40

• What all men are really after is some form, or perhaps only some formula, of peace.
  • Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes (1911)

• We shall never be at peace with ourselves until we yield with glad supremacy to our higher faculties.
  • Joseph Cook, as quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 477

• Though peace be made, yet it's interest that keeps peace.
  • Quoted by Oliver Cromwell, in Parliament (4 September 1654), as "a maxim not to be despised", as quoted in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 588-91

• Yes, God and the politicians willing, the United States can declare peace upon the world, and win it.
  • Ely Culbertson, Must We Fight Russia (1946), chapter 5, p. 19

D

The Puritans had accused the Quakers of "troubling the world by preaching peace to it." They refused to pay church taxes; they refused to bear arms; they refused to swear allegiance to any government. ~ Voltairine de Cleyre

• If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
  • Moshe Dayan, As quoted in Newsweek (17 October 1977)

• The Puritans had accused the Quakers of "troubling the world by preaching peace to it." They refused to pay church taxes; they refused to bear arms; they refused to swear allegiance to any government.
  • Voltairine de Cleyre, in "Direct Action" (21 January 1912)

• Peace does not simply mean the absence of conflict... There can therefore be no real peace without justice or consent... Peace does not fare well where poverty and deprivation reign... It is very significant that there has never been a war between genuine and universal democracies. There have been countless wars between totalitarian and authoritarian states. There have been wars between democracies and dictatorships - most often in defense of democratic values ​​or in response to aggression.
  • F. W. de Klerk, Nobel Peace Prize speech (10 December 1993)

• At present the peace of the world has been preserved, not by statesmen, but by capitalists.
  • Benjamin Disraeli, letter to Mrs. Sarah Brydges Willyams (October 17, 1863), published in The Life of Benjamin Disraeli (1916) W. F. Monypenny and George E. Buckle, vol. 4, p. 339

• At home the hateful names of parties cease,
  And factious souls are wearied into peace.
  • John Dryden, Astræa Redux, line 312

• Peace is an unstable equilibrium, which can be preserved only by acknowledged supremacy or equal power.
  • Will Durant and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History (1968), chapter 11, p. 81

E

• Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. You cannot subjugate a nation forcibly unless you wipe out every man, woman, and child. Unless you wish to use such drastic measures, you must find a way of settling your disputes without resort to arms.
  • Albert Einstein, in a speech to the New History Society (14 December 1930), reprinted in "Militant Pacifism" in Cosmic Religion (1931). Also found in The New Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice, p. 158

• All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom. It is no mere chance that our older universities developed from clerical schools. Both churches and universities — insofar as they live up to their true function — serve the ennoblement of the individual. They seek to fulfill this great task by spreading moral and cultural understanding, renouncing the use of brute force.
  • Albert Einstein, "Moral Decay" (1937); later published in Out of My Later Years (1950)

• I like to believe that people, in the long run, are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower, radio and television broadcast with Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, London, August 31, 1959. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1959, p. 625

• I could not live in peace if I put the shadow of a willful sin between myself and God.
  • George Eliot, as quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 448

• Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Of Self-Reliance", Essays, First Series (1841)

F

Peace on Earth, can it be?
Years from now, perhaps we'll see
See the day of glory
See the day, when men of good will
Live in peace, live in peace again. ~ "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy"

• How different the peace of God from that of the world! It calms the passions, preserves the purity of the conscience, is inseparable from righteousness, unites us to God and strengthens us against temptations. The peace of the soul consists in an absolute resignation to the will of God.
  • François Fénelon, as quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 446

• I pray my wish will come true
  For my child and your child too
  He'll see the day of glory
  See the day when men of good will
  Live in peace, live in peace again.
  Peace on Earth, can it be?
  Can it be?
  • Ian Fraser, Larry Grossman, Alan Kohan, in lyrics for "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" (11 September 1977)

• Peace is a practical positive policy, which must be attained by friendly co-operation between the nations, putting the good of all before the interests of each.
  • A. Ruth Fry, Ruth's Gleanings (1943)

G

• Let not thy peace depend on the tongues of men; for whether they judge well of thee or ill, thou art not on that account other than thyself. Where are true peace and true glory? Are they not in God?
  • Edward Garrett (Isabella Fyvie Mayo), as quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 448

• Breathe soft, ye winds! ye waves, in silence sleep!
  • John Gay, To a Lady, Epistle I, line 17

• Pax vobiscum.
  • Peace be with you.
  • Vulgate, Genesis XLIII 23

• Let us have peace.
  • Ulysses S. Grant, accepting the Presidential nomination (May 20, 1868)

• I accept your nomination in the confident trust that the masses of our countrymen, North and South, are eager to clasp hands across the bloody chasm which has so long divided them.
  • Horace Greeley, accepting the Liberal Republican nomination for President (May 20, 1872)

H

Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. ~ Nhat Hanh

The strongest passions, and most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast; ambition, avarice, vanity, the honorable or venial love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace. ~ Alexander Hamilton

The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and errors, its successes and setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned. ~ Dag Hammarskjöld

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace… ~ Leigh Hunt

• On the question of racial discrimination, the Addis Ababa Conference taught, to those who will learn, this further lesson: that until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned; That until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation; That until the colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained.
  • Haile Selassie, Speech at 1963 United Nations conference in New York City, as reproduced in Saheed A. Adejumobi, The History of Ethiopia (2007), p. 154

• The strongest passions, and most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast; ambition, avarice, vanity, the honorable or venial love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace.
  • Alexander Hamilton, Chapter: Helvidius Number IV in: The Pacificus-Helvidius Debates of 1793-1794: Toward the Completion of the American Founding, edited with and Introduction by Morton J. Frisch (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2007)

• Our work for peace must begin within the private world of each one of us. To build for man a world without fear, we must be without fear. To build a world of justice, we must be just. And how can we fight for liberty if we are not free in our own minds? How can we ask others to sacrifice if we are not ready to do so?... Only in true surrender to the interest of all can we reach that strength and independence, that unity of purpose, that equity of judgment which are necessary if we are to measure up to our duty to the future, as men of a generation to whom the chance was given to build in time a world of peace.
  • Dag Hammarskjöld, in UN Press Release SG/360 (22 December 1953)

• The pursuit of peace and progress cannot end in a few years in either victory or defeat. The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and its errors, its successes and its setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned.
  • Dag Hammarskjöld, United Nations Bulletin Vol. XVI, No. 4 (15 February 1954)

• The situation of the world is still like this. People completely identify with one side, one ideology. To understand the suffering and the fear of a citizen of the Soviet Union, we have to become one with him or her. To do so is dangerous — we will be suspected by both sides. But if we don't do it, if we align ourselves with one side or the other, we will lose our chance to work for peace. Reconciliation is to understand both sides, to go to one side and describe the suffering being endured by the other side, and then to go to the other side and describe the suffering being endured by the first side. Doing only that will be a great help for peace.
  • Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace (1987)

• Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace.
  • Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace (1987) ‎

• If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it.'
  • Nhat Hanh Peace Is Every Step : The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life (1992) Bantam reissue ISBN 0553351397

• But—a stirring thrills the air
  Like to sounds of joyance there,
  * That the rages
  • Of the ages
    Shall be cancelled, and deliverance offered from the darts that were,
    Consciousness the Will informing, till it fashion all things fair.
  • Thomas Hardy, Dynasts, Semichorus I of the Years

• When Christ was about to leave the world, He made His will. His soul He committed to His father; His body He bequeathed to Joseph to be decently interred; His clothes fell to the soldiers; His mother He left to the care of John; but what should He leave to His poor disciples that had left all for Him? Silver and gold He had none; but He left them that which was infinitely better, His peace.
  • Matthew Henry, as quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 445

• Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
  • Patrick Henry, Speech at the Second Virginia Convention at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia (23 March 1775)

• So peaceful shalt thou end thy blissful days,
  And steal thyself from life by slow decays.
  • Homer, The Odyssey, Book XI, line 164. Pope's translation

• Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
  Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
  And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
  Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
  An Angel writing in a book of gold…
  • Leigh Hunt, in "Abou Ben Adhem" (or "Abou Ben Adhem and the Angel"), in The Poetical Works of Leigh Hunt (1846)

I

• I maintain, then, that we should make peace, not only with the Chians, the Rhodians, the Byzantines and the Coans, but with all mankind...
  • Isocrates, "On the Peace", c. 355 B.C. In Isocrates (1929), as translated by George Norlin, Loeb Classical Library

J

Peace cannot be bullied into existence. ~ Ali Jarbawi

There is no true peace without fairness, truth, justice and solidarity. ~ Pope John Paul II

The happiness of mankind is best promoted by the useful pursuits of peace. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Let us now pledge all our efforts to obtain and consolidate the benefits of peace. ~ Benito Juárez

May the people and the government respect the rights of all. Between individuals, as between nations, peace means respect for the rights of others. ~ Benito Juárez

Peace and love are ever in us, being and working; but we be not alway in peace and in love. ~ Julian of Norwich

• Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms.
  • Andrew Jackson, as quoted in Many Thoughts of Many Minds: A Treasury of Quotations from the Literature of Every Land and Every Age (1896) edited by Louis Klopsch, p. 209

• Maybe tomorrow when He looks down
  Every green field and every town
  All of his children every nation
  There'll be peace and good, brotherhood…
  Crystal blue persuasion.
  • Tommy James, Eddie Gray and Mike Vale, Crystal Blue Persuasion (1969)

• The Palestinians need an America that is just in its vision and in its demands. It is true that the Palestinians are the weaker party in terms of the balance of power, which makes it easy to pressure them. But peace cannot be bullied into existence.
  • Defining the Jewish State (6 March 2014) by Ali Jarbawi (a political scientist at Birzeit University and a former minister of the Palestinian Authority) in The New York Times's section The Opinion Pages: Contributing Op-Ed Writer with regard to the Peace process in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; A version of this online op-ed appeared in print on March 7, 2014, in The International New York Times.

• Peace with all nations, and the right which that gives us with respect to all nations, are our object.
  • Thomas Jefferson, letter to Mr. Dumas (March 24, 1793); H. A. Washington, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 3, p. 535

• That peace, safety, and concord may be the portion of our native land, and be long enjoyed by our fellow-citizens, is the most ardent wish of my heart, and if I can be instrumental in procuring or preserving them, I shall think I have not lived in vain.
  • Thomas Jefferson, letter to Benjamin Waring and others (March 23, 1801); in Andrew A. Lipscomb, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 11 (1903), p. 235

• They dress the wound of my people
  as though it were not serious.
  ‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
  when there is no peace.
  • Jeremiah 6:14 NIV

• There is no true peace without fairness, truth, justice and solidarity.
  • Pope John Paul II, Message for the celebration of XXXIII World Day of Peace, 8 December 1999, Chapter 13

• Mexicans: let us now pledge all our efforts to obtain and consolidate the benefits of peace. Under its auspices, the protection of the laws and of the authorities will be sufficient for all the inhabitants of the Republic. May the people and the government respect the rights of all. Between individuals, as between nations, peace means respect for the rights of others.
  • Benito Juárez, as quoted in Global History, Volume Two : The Industrial Revolution to the Age of Globalization (2008) by Jerry Weiner, Mark Willner, George A. Hero and Bonnie-Anne Briggs, p. 175

• It is thus that mutual cowardice keeps us in peace. Were one-half of mankind brave and one-half cowards, the brave would be always beating the cowards. Were all brave, they would lead a very uneasy life; all would be continually fighting; but being all cowards, we go on very well.
  • Samuel Johnson, Boswell's Life (1778)

• Peace and love are ever in us, being and working; but we be not always in peace and in love.
  • Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (c. 1393), Ch. 39

• All that is contrary to love and peace is of the Fiend and of his part.
  • Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (c. 1393), Ch. 77

• Peace for Paris
  • Jean Jullien, as a caption to a variant of a standard Peace sign, modified to resemble the Eiffel Tower, in the wake of the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris.

• Sævis inter se convenit ursis.
  • Savage bears keep at peace with one another.
    • Juvenal, Satires, XV. 164

K

I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace. ~ Helen Keller

If we all can persevere, if we can in every land and office look beyond our own shores and ambitions, then surely the age will dawn in which the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved. ~ John F. Kennedy

While we shall never weary in the defense of freedom, neither shall we ever abandon the pursuit of peace. ~ John F. Kennedy

Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process — a way of solving problems. ~ John F. Kennedy

But peace does not rest in charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. And if it is cast out there, then no act, no pact, no treaty, no organization can hope to preserve it without the support and the wholehearted commitment of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper; let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace, in the hearts and minds of all our people. ~ John F. Kennedy

True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

• The days of peace and slumberous calm are fled.
  • John Keats, Hyperion (1818-19), Book II

• I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace.
  • Helen Keller, as quoted in Henry More: The Rational Theology of a Cambridge Plattonist (1962) by Aharon Lichtenstein

• Peace is not solely a matter of military or technical problems — it is primarily a problem of politics and people. And unless man can match his strides in weaponry and technology with equal strides in social and political development, our great strength, like that of the dinosaur, will become incapable of proper control — and like the dinosaur vanish from the earth.
  • John F. Kennedy in his Address to the United Nations General Assembly (25 September 1961)

• If we all can persevere, if we can in every land and office look beyond our own shores and ambitions, then surely the age will dawn in which the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.
  • John F. Kennedy in his Address to the United Nations General Assembly (25 September 1961)

• Together we shall save our planet, or together we shall perish in its flames. Save it we can — and save it we must — and then shall we earn the eternal thanks of mankind and, as peacemakers, the eternal blessing of God.
  • John F. Kennedy in his Address to the United Nations General Assembly (25 September 1961)

• No one should be under the illusion that negotiations for the sake of negotiations always advance the cause of peace. If for lack of preparation they break up in bitterness, the prospects of peace have been endangered. If they are made a forum for propaganda or a cover for aggression, the processes of peace have been abused.
  • John F. Kennedy during his Address at the University of Washington's 100th Anniversary Program (16 November 1961)

• While we shall never weary in the defense of freedom, neither shall we ever abandon the pursuit of peace.
  • John F. Kennedy's "Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union" (January 14, 1963)

• I do not deny the value of hopes and dreams but we merely invite discouragement and incredulity by making that our only and immediate goal. Let us focus instead on a more practical, more attainable peace— based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions—on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned. There is no single, simple key to this peace—no grand or magic formula to be adopted by one or two powers. Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process—a way of solving problems.
  • John F. Kennedy in his "A Strategy of Peace" speech at American University in Washington, DC (10 June 1963)

• Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. And however undramatic the pursuit of peace, that pursuit must go on.
  • John F. Kennedy in his Address to the United Nations General Assembly (20 September 1963)

• Chronic disputes which divert precious resources from the needs of the people or drain the energies of both sides serve the interests of no one — and the badge of responsibility in the modern world is a willingness to seek peaceful solutions.
  • John F. Kennedy in his address to the United Nations General Assembly (20 September 1963)

• But peace does not rest in charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. And if it is cast out there, then no act, no pact, no treaty, no organization can hope to preserve it without the support and the wholehearted commitment of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper; let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace, in the hearts and minds of all our people.
  • John F. Kennedy in his address to the United Nations General Assembly (20 September 1963)

• There have been keen agonies, sore heart-aches, but they have been short, and a sweet peace abides. Can it be His peace? Is it possible that to such a weak, sinful creature as I, the Comforter has indeed come? I must believe this, and that it is His presence that cheers me.
  • Arthur Henry Kenney, as quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 446

• Peace is the essential prerequisite because without peace we will be unable to achieve the levels of cooperation, inclusiveness and social equity necessary to solve our global challenges, let alone empower the international institutions needed to regulate the challenges.
  • Steve Killelea, Founder of the Global Peace Index in The Study of Industries that Prosper in Peace - the "Peace Industry" (2008)

• True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.
  • Martin Luther King, Jr., during the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, as quoted by Stephen B. Oates, Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1982)

• The present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
  • Martin Luther King, Jr, "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (1963)

L

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on … to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations. ~ Abraham Lincoln

All we are saying is give peace a chance. ~ John Lennon

What's so funny 'bout Peace, Love, and Understanding? ~ Nick Lowe

• Paix à tout prix.
  • Peace at any price.
  • Alphonse de Lamartine, as quoted in Letters and Remains (1865) by A. H. Clough, p. 105; also used by Armand Carrel in Le Ministère de la Paix à tout prix in The National (13 March 1831).

• The groups of capitalists who have drenched the world in blood for the sake of dividing territories, markets and concessions cannot conclude an "honourable" peace. They can conclude only a shameful peace, a peace based on the division of the spoils.
  • Vladimir I. Lenin, Letters from Afar (1917), in Collected Works, vol. 23, p. 336

• All we are saying is give peace a chance.
  • John Lennon in "Give Peace A Chance" (1969)

• Remember love. The only hope for any of us is peace. Violence begets violence. If you want to get peace, you can get it as soon as you like if we all pull together. You're all geniuses and you're all beautiful. You don't need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are. Get out there and get peace. Think peace, live peace, and breathe peace and you'll get it as soon as you like. Okay?
  • John Lennon to the press in July 1969 after the release of the Plastic Ono Band's single "Give Peace a Chance", as quoted in The Beatles : An Oral History by David Pritchard and Alan Lysaght (1998), p. 285

• Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one.
  • John Lennon in "Imagine" (1971)

• If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace.
  • John Lennon, as quoted in Guitar Player (1 August 2004), and in "Pax Patter" at ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

• Peace will come soon and come to stay, and so come as to be worth keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their cases and pay the cost.
  • Abraham Lincoln, letter to James C. Conkling (26 August 1863), as quoted by E. J. Young, The Lesson of the Hour, in Magazine of History, No. 43. (Extra number)

• With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
  • President Abraham Lincoln, second inaugural address, conclusion, March 4, 1865; in Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (1953), vol. 8, p. 333. "Both the Gettysburg address and the Second Inaugural Address mark the height of Lincoln's eloquence. The London Times called the latter the most sublime state paper of the century. Exactly two months later it was read over its author's grave". John G. Nicolay and John Hay, , eds., Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, new and enl. ed. (1905), vol. 9, p. 44, footnote. An excerpt appears on a plaque on the Veterans Administration building in Washington, D.C.: "To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan".

• What's so funny 'bout Peace, Love, and Understanding?
  • Nick Lowe, in "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" (1974), which became a hit as sung by Elvis Costello.

• Ef you want peace, the thing you've gut to du
  Is jes' to show you're up to fightin', tu.
  • James Russell Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2nd Series. 2

• Pax huic domui.
  • Peace be to this house.
  • Vulgate Gospel of Luke 10:5; Gospel of Matthew 10:12

M

Let not thy peace depend on the tongues of men; for whether they judge well of thee or ill, thou art not on that account other than thyself. ~ Edward Garrett (Isabella Fyvie Mayo)

There is no way to peace; peace is the way. ~ A. J. Muste

• In the inglorious arts of peace.
  • Andrew Marvell, Upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland

• The plain truth is the day is coming when no single nation, however powerful, can undertake by itself to keep the peace outside its own borders. Regional and international organizations for peace-keeping purposes are as yet rudimentary; but they must grow in experience and be strengthened by deliberate and practical cooperative action.
  • Robert McNamara, U.S. Secretary of Defense, address before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Montreal, Canada (May 19, 1966), Congressional Record (May 19, 1966), vol. 112, p. 11114

• Peace is not the absence of anything. Real peace is the presence of something beautiful. Both peace and the thirst for it have been in the heart of every human being in every century and every civilization.
  • Maharaji; Address to faculty, students and guests at Harvard University's Sanders Theater (August 2004)

• When there are no battles to fight, men start to think of hearth and harvest.
  • George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Catelyn (II)–Robb Stark

• After love comes peace. A great many people are trying to make peace. But that has already been done. God has not left it for us to do; all that we have to do is to enter into it.
  • Dwight L. Moody, as quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 446

• The promise is: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee." Now, as long as our minds are stayed on our dear selves, we shall never have peace.
  • Dwight L. Moody, as quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 447

• I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curled
  Above the green elms, that a cottage was near,
  And I said, "If there's peace to be found in the world,
  A heart that was humble might hope for it here."
  • Thomas Moore, Ballad Stanzas

• How calm, how beautiful comes on
  The stilly hour, when storms are gone.
  • Thomas Moore, Lalla Rookh (1817), The Fire Worshippers, Part III, Stanza 7

• There is no way to peace; peace is the way.
  • A. J. Muste, as quoted in The New York Times, (16 November 1967),
  • Variant: There is no way to peace, peace is the only way.
    • A. J. Muste, as quoted in The Peasant's Revolt : McCarthy 1968 (1969) by William P. McDonald and Jerry G. Smoke; these statements have also become attributed to Mahatma Gandhi and Doris Twitchell Allen

N

There are only two powers in this world, the sword and the spirit … in the long run the sword is always beaten by the spirit. ~ Napoleon I of France

It is not enough just to be for peace. The point is, what can we do about it? ~ Richard Nixon

The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker. ~ Richard Nixon

• If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.
  • Napoleon I of France, to Alexander I of Russia at Tilsit (25 June 1807), as quoted in Libretto for the Republic of Liberia (1953) by Melvin Beaunorus Tolson

• Without peace, all other dreams vanish and are reduced to ashes.
  • Jawaharlal Nehru, Address to the United Nations (28 August 1954); as quoted in The Macmillan Dictionary of Political Quotations (1993) by Lewis D. Eigen and Jonathan Paul Siegel, p. 698

• Do you know what I admire most in the world? The inability of force to organize anything. There are only two powers in this world, the sword and the spirit … in the long run the sword is always beaten by the spirit.
  • Napoleon I of France, in an 1808 conversation with Louis-Marcelin de Fontanes, quoted in Madame de Staël et Napoléon (1903) by Henri Guillemin, p. 185, as translated in Dictatorship and Political Police: The Technique of Control by Fear (1945) by Ernest Kohn Bramsted
  • Variants:
  • Fontanes, do you know what I admire most in the world ? It is the powerlessness of force to organize anything. There are only two powers in the world, the sword and the mind .... In the long run the sword is always vanquished by the mind.
    • As quoted in "French Literature" by William Koren, in Modern Language Notes, Vol. XX, No. 3, (March 1905), p. 97
  • The more I study the world, the more am I convinced of the inability of brute force to create anything durable.
    • As quoted by Charles Sumner, "War System of the Commonwealth of Nations" (1849), in The works of Charles Sumner (1870), Vol. 2, p. 224

• L'empire, c'est la paix.
  • The Empire means peace.
  • Louis Napoleon, speech to the Chamber of Commerce in Toulouse (9 October 1852). See B. Jerrold's Life of Louis Napoleon. "L'empire, c'est l'epée." Parody of same in Kladderdatsch (8 November 1862), as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 588-91

• The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker.
  • Richard Nixon, Inaugural address (20 January 1969); later used as Nixon's epitaph

• It is not enough just to be for peace. The point is, what can we do about it?
  • Richard Nixon, on-the-record interview with C. L. Sulzberger (8 March 1971), in The New York Times (March 10, 1971), p. 14

• Defeatism about the feasibility of plans for disarmament and ordered peace has been the most calamitious of all the errors made by democratic governments in modern times.
  • Philip Noel-Baker, The Arms Race, (1958)

New Testament

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. ~ Jesus

• Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God.
  • Jesus, in Matthew 5:9

• Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

• Jesus Matthew 10:34-35

• Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
  • Gospel of Luke 2:14

• So, then, let us pursue the things making for peace and the things that are upbuilding to one another.
  • Paul of Tarsus, Romans 14:19

• Do not be anxious over anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God; and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your mental powers by means of Christ Jesus.
  • Paul of Tarsus, Philippians 4: 6-7

• The peace of God, which passeth all understanding.
  • Philippians 4:7

• Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.
  • Psalms 122:7

• Do not be anxious over anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God; and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your mental powers by means of Christ Jesus.
  • Paul of Tarsus, Philippians 4: 6-7

O

The only path to lasting peace is when people know that their dignity will be respected and that their rights will be upheld. ~ Barack Obama

The peace we seek in the world begins in human hearts. And it finds its glorious expression when we look beyond any differences in religion or tribe, and rejoice in the beauty of every soul. ~ Barack Obama

True security comes through making peace with your neighbors. ~ Barack Obama

• Peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting.
  • Barack Obama, Nobel Prize acceptance speech (9 December 2009)

• Ultimately, peace is just not about politics. It’s about attitudes; about a sense of empathy; about breaking down the divisions that we create for ourselves in our own minds and our own hearts that don’t exist in any objective reality, but that we carry with us generation after generation.
  • Barack Obama, Remarks by President Obama and Mrs. Obama in Town Hall with Youth of Northern Ireland, Belfast Waterfront, Belfast, Northern Ireland (17 June 2013)

• The terms of peace may be negotiated by political leaders, but the fate of peace is up to each of us.
  • Barack Obama, remarks in Town Hall with Youth of Northern Ireland, Belfast Waterfront, Belfast, Northern Ireland (17 June 2013)

• Justice will win — because might does not make right, and the only path to lasting peace is when people know that their dignity will be respected and that their rights will be upheld.
  • Barack Obama, Remarks by President Obama to the People of Estonia i.e. students, young professionals, civil leaders, and the people of Estonia at the Nordea Concert Hall in Tallinn, Estonia on (3 September 2014)

• The peace we seek in the world begins in human hearts. And it finds its glorious expression when we look beyond any differences in religion or tribe, and rejoice in the beauty of every soul. [...] Do we act with compassion and empathy. [...] we have to guard against any efforts to divide ourselves along sectarian lines or any other lines.
  • Barack Obama, Remarks by Barack Obama in Address to the People of India (January 27, 2015)

• But he understood from hard-earned experience that true security comes through making peace with your neighbors.
  • Barack Obama, Remarks by President Obama at Memorial Service for Former Israeli President Shimon Peres on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, Israel. (30 September 2016)

• For peace do not hope; to be just you must break it.
  Still work for the minute and not for the year.
  • John Boyle O'Reilly, Rules of the Road

• Candida pax homines, trux decet ira feras.
  • Fair peace becomes men; ferocious anger belongs to beasts.
  • Ovid, Ars Amatoria, III. 502

P

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace" and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty. ~ Thomas Paine

Let us pursue the things making for peace and the things that are upbuilding to one another. ~ Paul of Tarsus

Five enemies of peace inhabit with us — avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace. ~ Petrarch

• I once felt all that kind of anger, which a man ought to feel, against the mean principles that are held by the Tories: a noted one, who kept a tavern at Amboy, was standing at his [[door], with as pretty a child in his hand, about eight or nine years old, as I ever saw, and after speaking his mind as freely as he thought was prudent, finished with this unfatherly expression, "Well! give me peace in my day."
  Not a man lives on the continent but fully believes that a separation must some time or other finally take place, and a generous parent should have said, "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace;" and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty.
  • Thomas Paine, The Crisis No. I (written 19 December 1776, published 23 December 1776).

• Most anarchists believe the coming change can only come through a revolution, because the possessing class will not allow a peaceful change to take place; still we are willing to work for peace at any price, except at the price of liberty.
  • Lucy Parsons, The Principles of Anarchism

• His helmet now shall make a hive for bees,
  And lover's sonnets turn'd to holy psalms;
  A man at arms must now serve on his knees,
  And feed on prayers, which are his age's alms.
  • George Peele, Sonnet ad fin, Polyhymnia

• An equal doom clipp'd Time's blest wings of peace.
  • Petrarch, To Laura in Death, Sonnet XLVIII, line 18

• Five enemies of peace inhabit with us — avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.
  • Petrarch, De vita solitaria (1346) as quoted in Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing‎ (2006) by Larry Chang, p. 144

• Allay the ferment prevailing in America by removing the obnoxious hostile cause—obnoxious and unserviceable—for their merit can only be in action. "Non dimicare et vincare."
  • William Pitt the Elder, speech (Jan. 20, 1775); referring to the American Colonies

• Concession comes with better grace and more salutary effect from superior power.
  • William Pitt the Elder, speech to Recall Troops from Boston

Q

R

Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with conflict by peaceful means. ~ Ronald Reagan

With the destructive power of today's weapons, keeping the peace is not just a goal; it's a sacred obligation. But maintaining peace requires more than sincerity and idealism—more than optimism and good will. As you know well, peace is a product of hard, strenuous labor by those dedicated to its preservation. It requires realism, not wishful thinking. ~ Ronald Reagan

We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with fear. We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding, the confidence, and the courage which flow from conviction. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one Nation. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world. [...] Peace can endure only so long as humanity really insists upon it, and is willing to work for it—and sacrifice for it. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

• So long as [men] hold the tribal notion that the individual is sacrificial fodder for the collective, that some men have the right to rule others by force, and that some (any) alleged 'good' can justify It — there can be no peace ‘within’ a nation and no peace among nations.
  • Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, “The Roots of War” chap., New York: NY, A Signal Book (1967) p. 42

• Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with conflict by peaceful means.
  • Ronald Reagan, "Address at Commencement Exercises at Eureka College in Illinois," May 9, 1982. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.

• With the destructive power of today's weapons, keeping the peace is not just a goal; it's a sacred obligation. But maintaining peace requires more than sincerity and idealism—more than optimism and good will. As you know well, peace is a product of hard, strenuous labor by those dedicated to its preservation. It requires realism, not wishful thinking.
  • Ronald Reagan, "Toasts of the President and United Nations Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar at a Luncheon in New York City ," June 17, 1982. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.

• We wish peace, but we wish the peace of justice, the peace of righteousness. We wish it because we think it is right and not because we are afraid.
  • Theodore Roosevelt, Inaugural Address (6 September 1901)

• We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with fear. We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding, the confidence, and the courage which flow from conviction.
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fourth Inaugural Address (20 January 1945)
• World peace is not a party question. [...] The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one Nation. It cannot be just an American peace, or a British peace, or a Russian, a French, or a Chinese peace. It cannot be a peace of large Nations- or of small Nations. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world. It cannot be a structure of complete perfection at first. But it can be a peace—and it will be a peace—based on the sound and just principles of the Atlantic Charter— on the concept of the dignity of the human being—and on the guarantees of tolerance and freedom of religious worship. [...] We shall have to take the responsibility for world collaboration, or we shall have to bear the responsibility for another world conflict. [...] Peace can endure only so long as humanity really insists upon it, and is willing to work for it—and sacrifice for it.
  • Address to Congress on Yalta (1 March 1945)

• It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.
  • Eleanor Roosevelt, Voice of America broadcast (11 November 1951)

• Peace is the music of every soul. Our glory lies in understanding, listening and honoring that music.
  • Amit Ray, Walking the Path of Compassion (2015)

• Sometimes there's truth in old cliches. There can be no real peace without justice. And without resistance there will be no justice.
  • Arundhati Roy, speech on Accepting the Sydney Peace Prize (7 November 2004) Sydney IMC article - Peace?... Full speech

• People are always expecting to get peace in heaven: but you know whatever peace they get there will be ready-made. Whatever making of peace they can be blest for, must be on the earth here.
  • John Ruskin, The Eagle's Nest, Lecture IX

• You may assuredly find perfect peace, if you are resolved to do that which your Lord has plainly required,— and content that He should indeed require no more of you,— than to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him.
  • John Ruskin, as quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 446

• If peace cannot be maintained with honor, it is no longer peace.
  • Lord John Russell, speech at Greenoch (September 1853), as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 588-91

S

The process of peace and pacification is a work that requires long breath, like a marathon. ~ Catherine Samba-Panza

Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace. ~ Albert Schweitzer

If slavery, barbarism and desolation are to be called peace, men can have no worse misfortune. ~ Baruch Spinoza

In fact, the real disturbers of the peace are those who, in a free state, seek to curtail the liberty of judgment which they are unable to tyrannize over. ~ Baruch Spinoza

• The process of peace and pacification is a work that requires long breath, like a marathon.
  • Catherine Samba-Panza, as quoted on GWToday, "Leader of the Central African Republic in Roundtable at GW" (2 March 2016)

• Es kann der Frömmste nicht im Frieden bleiben,
  Wenn es dem bösen Nachbar nicht gefällt.
  • The most pious may not live in peace,
    if it does not please his wicked neighbor.
    • Friedrich Schiller, Wilhelm Tell (1803), IV. 3. 124

• Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.
  • Albert Schweitzer, Kulturphilosophie (1923)

• All these you may avoid but the Lie Direct; and you may avoid that too, with an If. I knew when seven justices could not take up a quarrel, but when the parties were met themselves, one of them thought but of an If, as, "If you said so then I said so"; and they shook hands and swore brothers. Your If is the only peace-maker; much virtue in If.
  • William Shakespeare, As You Like It (c.1599-1600), Act V, scene 4, line 100

• A peace is of the nature of a conquest;
  For then both parties nobly are subdued,
  And neither party loser.
  • William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part II (c. 1597-99), Act IV, scene 2, line 89

• In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
  As modest stillness and humility.
  • William Shakespeare, Henry V (c. 1599), Act III, scene 1, line 3

• * Peace,
  Dear nurse of arts, plenties and joyful births.
  • William Shakespeare, Henry V (c. 1599), Act V, scene 2, line 34

• Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
  To silence envious tongues.
  • William Shakespeare, Henry VIII (c. 1613), Act III, scene 2, line 445

• And for the peace of you I hold such strife
  As 'twixt a miser and his wealth is found.
  • William Shakespeare, Sonnet LXXV

• Pax optima rerum
  quas homini novisse datum est, pax una triumphis
  innumeris potior.
  • Peace is the best thing that man may know; peace alone is better than a thousand triumphs.
    • Silius Italicus, Punica, Book XI, lines 592–594

• Truth is its [justice's] handmaid, freedom is its child, peace is its companion, safety walks in its steps, victory follows in its train; it is the brightest emanation from the Gospel; it is the attribute of God.
  • Sydney Smith, as quoted in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919),Volume I, p. 29

• History writes the word 'Reconciliation' over all her quarrels.
  • Jan Smuts to Alfred Milner (1905), as cited in Antony Lentin, 2010, Jan Smuts - Man of courage and vision ISBN 978-1-86842-390-3

• When it is peace, then we may view again
  With new-won eyes each other's truer form
  And wonder. Grown more loving-kind and warm
  We'll grasp firm hands and laugh at the old pain
  When it is peace. But until peace, the storm
  The darkness and the thunder and the rain.
  • Charles Sorley, To Germany

• Let the bugles sound the Truce of God to the whole world forever.
  • Charles Sumner, Oration on the True Grandeur of Nations

• In this surrender—if such it may be called—the National Government does not even stoop to conquer. It simply lifts itself to the height of its original principle. The early efforts of its best negotiators, the patriotic trial of its soldiers … may at last prevail.
  • Charles Sumner, sustaining President Lincoln in the U.S. Senate, in the Trent Affair (7 January 1862)

• If slavery, barbarism and desolation are to be called peace, men can have no worse misfortune. No doubt there are usually more and sharper quarrels between parents and children, than between masters and slaves; yet it advances not the art of household management to change a father's right into a right of property, and count children but as slaves. Slavery, then, and not peace, is furthered by handing, over the whole authority to one man.
  • Baruch Spinoza, Political Treatise (1677), Tractatus Politicus as translated by A. H. Gosset (1883), Ch. 6, On Monarchy - Alternate site (this is an unfinished work, left incomplete by Spinoza's death)

• Schisms do not originate in a love of truth, which is a source of courtesy and gentleness, but rather in an inordinate desire for supremacy. From all these considerations it is clearer than the sun at noonday, that the true schismatics are those who condemn other men's writings, and seditiously stir up the quarrelsome masses against their authors, rather than those authors themselves, who generally write only for the learned, and appeal solely to reason. In fact, the real disturbers of the peace are those who, in a free state, seek to curtail the liberty of judgment which they are unable to tyrannize over.
  • Baruch Spinoza, [Theological-Political Treatise (1670) Ch. 20, That In a Free State Every Man May Think What He Likes, and Say What He Thinks

T

It is not enough to yearn for peace. We must work, and if necessary, fight for it. ~ Harry S. Truman

• Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium, atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
  • To rob, to ravage, to murder, in their imposing language, are the arts of civil policy. When they have made the world a solitude, they call it peace.
    • Tacitus, in Agricola, XXX, ascribing the speech to Galgacus, Britain's leader against the Romans, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 588-91

• Peace with honor.
  • Theobald, Count of Champagne, letter to King Louis the Great (1108–1137). See Walter Map, De Nugis Curialium (Ed. Camden Society, p. 220.) Sir Kenelm Digby, letter to Lord Bristol, May 27, 1625. See his Life, pub. by Longmans. Same in Coriolanus, III, II, as reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 588-91

• Peace the offspring is of Power.
  • Bayard Taylor, "A Thousand Years" (September 20, 1862), stanza 12; in The Poems (1866), p. 411

• No more shall * * * Peace
  Pipe on her pastoral hillock a languid note,
  And watch her harvest ripen.
  • Alfred Tennyson, Maud; A Monodrama (1855), Stanza 28

• A state of human life vaguely defined by the term "Universal Peace," while a result of cumulative effort through centuries past, might come into existence quickly, not unlike a crystal suddenly forms in a solution which has been slowly prepared. But just as no effect can precede its cause, so this state can never be brought on by any pact between nations, however solemn. Experience is made before the law is formulated, both are related like cause and effect. So long as we are clearly conscious of the expectation, that peace is to result from such a parliamentary decision, so long have we a conclusive evidence that we are not fit for peace. Only then when we shall feel that such international meetings are mere formal procedures, unnecessary except in so far as they might serve to give definite expression to a common desire, will peace be assured.
  To judge from current events we must be, as yet, very distant from that blissful goal. It is true that we are proceeding towards it rapidly. There are abundant signs of this progress everywhere. The race enmities and prejudices are decidedly waning.
  • Nikola Tesla, in "The Transmission of Electrical Energy without wires as a means for furthering Peace" in Electrical World and Engineer (7 January 1905)

• It is not enough to yearn for peace. We must work, and if necessary, fight for it. The task of creating a sound international organization is complicated and difficult. Yet, without such organization, the rights of man on earth cannot be protected. Machinery for the just settlement of international differences must be found. Without such machinery, the entire world will have to remain an armed camp. The world will be doomed to deadly conflict, devoid of hope for real peace.
  • Harry S. Truman, Address Before a Joint Session of the US Congress (16 April 1945)

Tanakh

Turn from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. ~ Psalms

To the increase of his rulership and to peace, there will be no end.
~ Isaiah 9:7

• בְּשָׁלֹ֣ום יַחְדָּו֮ אֶשְׁכְּבָ֪ה וְאִ֫ישָׁ֥ן כִּֽי־אַתָּ֣ה יְהוָ֣ה לְבָדָ֑ד לָ֝בֶ֗טַח תֹּושִׁיבֵֽנִי׃
  • David, in Psalms 4:8, Leningrad Codex
  • I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.
    • KJV
  • In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For you yourself alone, O Jehovah, make me dwell in security.
    • NWT

• Jehovah himself will give strength indeed to his people. Jehovah himself will bless his people with peace.
  • David, in Psalms 29:11, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures

• To the increase of his rulership

And to peace, there will be no end.

• Isaiah 9:7, NWT

• The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid.
  • Isaiah, 11:6

• They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
  • Jeremiah 6:14

• Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
  • Proverbs 3:17

• Turn from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it.
  • Psalms 34:14 (Lexham English Bible)

• Mercy and truth are met together: righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
  • Psalms 85:10

U

Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. ~ Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December 1948), Preamble

V

• From somewhere in the Mediterranean — this is The Voice of Peace.
  • Station identification of Israeli humanist and peace activist Abie Nathan's pirate offshore radio Voice of Peace

W

Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. ~ George Washington

There is a price which is too great to pay for peace, and that price can be put in one word. One cannot pay the price of self-respect. ~ Woodrow Wilson

• Peace will come wherever it is sincerely invited.
  • Alice Walker in Living by the Word : Selected Writings, 1973-1987 (1989), p. 192
• Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all.
  • George Washington, in his Farewell Address (17 September 1796)

• He had rather spend £100,000 on Embassies to keep or procure peace with dishonour, than £100,000 on an army that would have forced peace with honour.
  • Sir Anthony Weldon, in The Court and Character of King James (1650), p. 185; used by Benjamin Disraeli on his return from the Berlin Congress on the Eastern Question (July 1878).

• But dream not helm and harness
  The sign of valor true;
  Peace hath higher tests of manhood
  Than battle ever knew.
  • John Greenleaf Whittier, "The Hero", Stanza 19, in The Panorama and Other Poems (1856)

• As on the Sea of Galilee,
  The Christ is whispering "Peace."
  • John Greenleaf Whittier, in "Kallundborg Church", in Tent on the Beach (1867)

• The US will be a violent society until we decide to be nonviolent. Our task, if we do decide that, is to proactively and intentionally wage peace.
  • Marianne Williamson, Twitter (25 Oct 2019)

• The example of America must be the example not merely of peace because it will not fight, but of peace because peace is the healing and elevating influence of the world, and strife is not. There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.
  • Woodrow Wilson, address in Convention Hall, Philadelphia (10 May 1915)

• There is a price which is too great to pay for peace, and that price can be put in one word. One cannot pay the price of self-respect.
  • Woodrow Wilson, Des Moines Iowa speech (1 February 1916), on "The Westerm Preparedness Tour"

• It must be a peace without victory. . . . Only a peace between equals can last. Only a peace the very principle of which is equality and a common participation in a common benefit.
  • Woodrow Wilson, Speech to U.S. Senate on essential terms of peace in Europe (22 January 1917); in Albert Shaw, ed., The Messages and Papers of Woodrow Wilson (1924), vol. 1, p. 352

• Right is more precious than peace.
  • Woodrow Wilson, Address to U.S. Congress, asking for a declaration of war (2 April 1917)

• There must be, not a balance of power, but a community of power; not organized rivalries, but an organized common peace.
  • Woodrow Wilson, Address to the U.S. Senate (22 January 1917)

• What is at at stake now is the peace of the world. What we are striving for is a new international order based upon broad and universal principles of right and justice, — no mere peace of shreds and patches.
  • Woodrow Wilson, "Address to Congress: Analyzing German and Austrian Peace Utterances", delivered to the U.S. Congress in Joint Session on (11 February 1918)

• The peace of the world depends upon the just settlement of each of the several problems to which I adverted in my recent address to the Congress. I, of course, do not mean that the peace of the world depends upon the acceptance of any particular set of suggestions as to the way in which those problems are to be dealt with. I mean only that those problems each and all affect the whole world; that unless they are dealt with in a spirit of unselfish and unbiased justice, with a view to the wishes, the natural connections, the racial aspirations, the security, and the peace of mind of the peoples involved, no permanent peace will have been attained. They cannot be discussed separately or in corners. None of them constitutes a private or separate interest from which the opinion of the world may be shut out. Whatever affects the peace affects mankind, and nothing settled by military force, if settled wrong, is settled at all. It will presently have to be reopened.
  • Woodrow Wilson, "Address to Congress: Analyzing German and Austrian Peace Utterances", delivered to the U.S. Congress in Joint Session on (11 February 1918)

• There shall be no annexations, no contributions, no punitive damage. Peoples are not to be handed about from one sovereignty to another by an international conference or an understanding between rivals and antagonists. National aspirations must be respected; peoples may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent. "Self-determination" is not a mere phrase. It is an imperative principle of actions which statesmen will henceforth ignore at their peril. We cannot have general peace for the asking, or by the mere arrangements of a peace conference. It cannot be pieced together out of individual understandings between powerful states. All the parties to this war must join in the settlement of every issue anywhere involved in it; because what we are seeing is a peace that we can all unite to guarantee and maintain and every item of it must be submitted to the common judgment whether it be right and fair, an act of justice, rather than a bargain between sovereigns.
  • Woodrow Wilson, "Address to Congress: Analyzing German and Austrian Peace Utterances", delivered to the U.S. Congress in Joint Session on (11 February 1918)

X

Y

• Ne'er to meet, or ne'er to part, is peace.
  • Edward Young, Night Thoughts (1742-1745), Night V, line 1,058

• Even the best must own
  Patience and resignation are the pillars
  Of human peace on earth.
  • Edward Young, Night Thoughts (1742-1745), Night VIII, line 1,049

Z

See also

• Justice
• Religion of Peace
• War
• War and peace
• World peace

External links

I Declare World Peace - Peace Quotes #IDWP