“We who advocate peace are becoming an irrelevance when we speak peace. The government speaks rubber bullets, live bullets, tear gas, police dogs, detention, and death.”

— Desmond Tutu

As quoted in Sunday Times Magazine (8 June 1986).

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Desmond Tutu 85

South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Priz… 1931

Derrick Jensen book A Language Older Than Words

A Language Older Than Words (2000)

“Someone once wrote, “A bullet need happen only once, but for peace to work we need to be reminded of its existence again and again and again.””

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2016, Statement on the Shootings in Baton Rouge (July 2016)
Context: Someone once wrote, “A bullet need happen only once, but for peace to work we need to be reminded of its existence again and again and again.” My fellow Americans, only we can prove, through words and through deeds, that we will not be divided. And we’re going to have to keep on doing it “again and again and again.” That’s how this country gets united. That’s how we bring people of good will together. Only we can prove that we have the grace and the character and the common humanity to end this kind of senseless violence, to reduce fear and mistrust within the American family, to set an example for our children. That’s who we are, and that’s who we always have the capacity to be. And that’s the best way for us to honor the sacrifice of the brave police officers who were taken from us this morning.

“We never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets?”

Harry Styles (1994) English singer, songwriter, and actor

"Sign of the Times", written by Harry Styles, Jeff Bhasker, Mitch Rowland, Ryan Nasci, Alex Salibian, Tyler Johnson
Lyrics, Harry Styles (2017)

“I am impressed by what I read, by the depth of his ideas, of his message. He speaks about peace from a very original and unique perspective. We are used to hearing speeches about peace. We usually tend to leave peace in the hands of governments or political organizations. Prem Rawat speaks about peace from a different perspective—more precise, more human—and he stresses the significance of each human being in the pursuit of world peace. I find great merit in his message.”

Prem Rawat (1957) controversial spiritual leader

Dr. Díaz, Vice-Rector. Salamanca University. Salamanca, Spain. June 2003
About, 2000s

“We must no longer have a pacific conception of peace. In the Middle Ages it was otherwise. The existence of the individual had no exaggerated importance. Pacifist literature depicts death on the field of battle as an unnatural death because it does not understand the ancient Germanic horror of death on a bed, and arteriosclerosis appears to it more virile than a bullet. Pacifists dwell on the horrors of the war dead as if a peace corpse were more aesthetic. The representatives of the national revolution are men and soldiers who are physically and morally warriors.”

Franz von Papen (1879–1969) German chancellor

Speech to the Stalhelm in Münster (13 May 1933), quoted in Frederick Schuman, Hitler and the Nazi Dictatorship (London: Hale, 1936), pp. 345-346
1930s

“When we speak plainly of death we stand equal to it.”

Martin Firrell (1963) British artist and activist

"Complete Hero" (2009)

“The bullets bursted [sic] at the time of the war, and we used to die with bullets, but now let us die quietly.”

Hollow Horn Bear (1850–1913) 19th century Lakota chief and policeman

During negotiations with Crook and others, in [Books on Google Play Congressional Serial Set, 1890, U.S. Government Printing Office, https://books.google.com/books?id=lQ0ZAAAAYAAJ, 1 March 2018, 59]