Quotes about peace
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“When you've seen beyond yourself, then you may find, peace of mind is waiting there.”

George Harrison (1943–2001) British musician, former member of the Beatles

“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 (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)

TV talk with Prime Minister Macmillan (31 August 1959) "Selected Quotations", Eisenhower Archives, Eisenhower Library, 2007-04-01, http://web.archive.org/web/20070208232736/http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/ss1.htm, 2007-02-08 http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/ss1.htm, 1950s

People, Way, Thinking

“Root out the violence in your life, and learn to live compassionately and mindfully. Seek peace. When you have peace within, real peace with others is possible.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Life, Learning, Peaceful

“Peace is purchased in the currency of loss.”

Glen Duncan book I, Lucifer

Source: I, Lucifer

Loss

“May you bring unconditional love and infinite peace.”

Alyson Nöel book Blue Moon

Source: Blue Moon

Love

“There can be no peace for us, only misery, and the greatest happiness.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

Happiness

“Your eyes smile peace.”

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882) English poet, illustrator, painter and translator

Smile

“Animals are born who they are, accept it, and that is that. They live with greater peace than people do.”

Gregory Maguire book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Source: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

People, Animals, Wise

“Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

Fight, Peaceful

“Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Love, War, Learning, Peaceful

“Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.”

Zora Neale Hurston book Their Eyes Were Watching God

Source: Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), Ch. 20, p. 193.
Context: Of course he wasn't dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.

Life, World, Soul, Fish

“If you think that happiness means total peace, you will never be happy. Peace comes from the acceptance of the part of you that can never be at peace. It will always be in conflict. If you accept that, everything gets a lot better.”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

Happiness, Thinking, Parting

“Artists are here to disturb the peace.”

James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States

“Give us what belongs to us in peace, and if you don't give it to us in peace, we will take it by force.”

Emma Goldman (1868–1940) anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches

“How old are you Johnny" she asked.
Sixteen."
And what's that-a boy or a man?"
He laughed. "A boy in time of peace and a man in time of war.”

Esther Forbes book Johnny Tremain

Source: Johnny Tremain

War, Boy, Time

“Humm humm haaa. Rahmumm humm haaaa," intoned Opal, finishing her chant. "Peace be inside me, tolerance all around me, forgiveness in my path. Now, Mervall, show me where the filthy human is so that I may feed him his organs.”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Source: The Time Paradox

Forgiveness

“Cats are cats… the world over!
These intelligent, peace-loving, four-footed friends- who are without prejudice, without hate, without greed- may someday teach us something.
-James Mackintosh Qwilleran”

Lilian Jackson Braun (1913–2011) author

Source: The Cat Who Saw Stars

Love, Hate, World, Intelligence

“Peace and harmony do not require perfection. Thank goodness for that—because life so often seems to be an itch here, a glitch there, a mess waiting to happen. Harmony is flexible. It bends with imperfection. So should you.”

Jerry Spinelli (1941) American children's writer

Source: Today I Will: A Year of Quotes, Notes, and Promises to Myself

Life, Waiting, Perfection

“It is right to seek peace for the dead. You and I both know there is no peace for those who live after.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

Dead

“Whatever you may be missing right now - a person, a place, a feeling, maybe you are injured and missing running - whatever it is, have peace and take heart - remember that any goodbye makes room for a hello.”

Kristin Armstrong (1973) American road bicycle racer

Feeling, Heart, Personality

“You think this is going to work? This peaceful summit thing?”
“Sure,” I said. After a second, I added, “Probably.”
“Probably?”
“Maybe,” I said.
“We’re down to maybe now?”
I shrugged. “We’ll see.”

Jim Butcher book Cold Days

Source: Cold Days

Thinking

“I walked into my own book, seeking peace.
It was night, and I made a careless movement inside the dream; I turned too brusquely the corner and I bruised myself against my madness.”

Anaïs Nin book House of Incest

Source: House of Incest

Books, Dreams, Madness, Night

“Hare Krishna, Peace and Love”

George Harrison (1943–2001) British musician, former member of the Beatles

Love

“Peace is a conscious choice.”

John Denver (1943–1997) American singer, songwriter, activist, and humanitarian

“We must set aside our wishes and give heed to reality. Nobody can accept the truth while hiding from it. When a decision matters, we have to stare at the truth unflinchingly. Only then can we find peace in our choices.”

Brandon Mull (1974) American fiction writer

Source: Chasing the Prophecy

Truth, Reality, Decision

“The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Beauty, Flowers, Beauty

“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 (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Kennedy's "focus on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution of human institutions." was quoted by Barack Obama in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech.
1963, American University speech
Context: I am not referring to the absolute, infinite concept of peace and good will of which some fantasies and fanatics dream. 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.

Way, Problem, Change

“I take your hand, brother, so that you may go in peace.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

“No, my son, do not aspire for wealth and labor not only to be rich. Strive instead for happiness, to be loved and to love, and most important to acquire peace of mind and serenity.”

Og Mandino book The Greatest Salesman in the World

Source: The Greatest Salesman in the World

Love, Happiness, Wealth

“I have often spoken to you about good and evil. This has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere. Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right. This nation must continue to speak out for justice and truth. We must always be willing to act in their defense and to advance the cause of peace”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

2000s, 2009, Farewell speech to the nation (January 2009)
Context: As we address these challenges – and others we cannot foresee tonight – America must maintain our moral clarity. I have often spoken to you about good and evil. This has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere. Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right. This nation must continue to speak out for justice and truth. We must always be willing to act in their defense and to advance the cause of peace.

People, Truth, World, Justice

“The only basis of peace is the cessation of the conflict of two wills: my will vs God’s.”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

God

“Each moment is a chance for us to make peace with the world, to make peace possible for the world, to make happiness possible for the world.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: Teachings on Love

Happiness, World, Chance, Peaceful

“They won the war but lost the peace”

Jonathan Maberry book Rot & Ruin

Source: Rot & Ruin

War

“Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Friendship, Peaceful

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Variant: Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.

Understanding, Peaceful

“Christopher discovered that you dealt with obnoxious masters and most older boys the way you dealt with governesses: you quite politely told them the truth in the way they wanted to hear it, so that they thought they had won and left you in peace.”

Diana Wynne Jones book The Lives of Christopher Chant

Source: The Lives of Christopher Chant

Truth, Way, Boy

“In his face there came to be a brooding peace that is seen most often in the faces of the very sorrowful or the very wise. But still he wandered through the streets of the town, always silent and alone.”

Carson McCullers book The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

Source: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

“Judge your success by the degree that you're enjoying peace, health, and love.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer

Source: Life's Instructions For Wisdom, Success, And Happiness

Love, Health, Success

“It's so quiet and peaceful out here I'm getting bored with breathing. Maybe we'll get lucky and the world will go to Hell again. Fingers crossed.”

Richard Kadrey (1957) San Francisco-based novelist, freelance writer, and photographer

Source: Aloha from Hell

World, Hell

“I'm always so glad I have no idea what you're vacantly chatting about," said Jace. It fills me with a sense of peace and well-being.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Idea, Sense

“The decent, strong person had to do decent, strong things like love unlovable people and keep peace even when it wasn't easy.”

Mary Connealy (1956) Author

Source: Doctor in Petticoats (Center Point Christian Romance

Love, People, Strong, Personality

“Hold thy peace, dear little Pearl!" whispered her mother. "We must not always talk in the market-place of what happens to us in the forest.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne book The Scarlet Letter

Source: The Scarlet Letter

“Until there is peace between religions, there can be no peace in the world.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

World, Religion

“You hold in your hand an invitation: to remember the transforming power of forgiveness and loving kindness. To remember that no matter where you are and what you face, within your heart peace is possible.”

Jack Kornfield (1945) American writer

Love, Forgiveness, Heart

“Some women wait for themselves around the next corner and call the empty spot peace but the opposite of living is only not living and the stars do not care.”

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist

Women, Star, Waiting

“All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Justice

“Busy your mind with the concepts of harmony, health, peace, and good will, and wonders will happen in your life.”

Joseph Murphy (1898–1981) American writer

Source: The Power of Your Subconscious Mind -

Life, Health, Business

“A Time For Prayer

"In times of war and not before,
God and the soldier we adore.
But in times of peace and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the soldier slighted."

-Rudyard Kipling”

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) English short-story writer, poet, and novelist

God, War, Time

“We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)

Fight

“Have you found someone to share your heart with? Are you giving to your community? Are you at peace with yourself? Are you trying to be as human as you can be?”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

Communication, Heart

“Peace is not merely the absence of war but the presence of justice, of law, of order —in short, of government.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Source: On Peace

War, Justice, Law

“Teach me to treat all that comes to me with peace of soul and with firm conviction that Your will governs all.”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

Soul

“And see the peaceful trees extend
their myriad leaves in leisured dance—
they bear the weight of sky and cloud
upon the fountain of their veins.”

Kathleen Raine (1908–2003) poet, critic, translator

Tree, Dance

“And it's a pity too that I've no right to open your letters. I hope you don't get many, or my conscience will give me no peace.”

Diana Wynne Jones Charmed Life

Source: Charmed Life

Hope

“It was a time when only the dead smiled, happy in their peace.”

Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) Russian modernist poet

Happiness, Smile, Time, Dead

“Now at last I can look at you in peace, I don't eat you anymore.”

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) author

Comment to a fish, after becoming a vegetarian, p. 74 http://books.google.com/books?id=6TNVWo7S6n8C&pg=PA74&dq=kafka+look+peace+eat#PPA74,M1 Franz Kafka: A Biography (1960)

“For war there is always enough. It's peace that's expensive.”

Joseph Heller book Closing Time

Source: Closing Time

War

“To do good work one must eat well, be well housed, have one's fling from time to time, smoke one's pipe, and drink one's coffee in peace”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

Coffee, Drink, Time, Housing

“How come we play war and not peace?"
"Too few role models.”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes

War

“Sometimes I have loved the peacefulness of an ordinary Sunday. It is like standing in a newly planted garden after a warm rain. You can feel the silent and invisible life.”

Marilynne Robinson Gilead

Source: Gilead

Love, Life, Feeling

“Contented children are valuable, as is the peace that surrounds them.”

Donita K. Paul (1950) American writer

Source: DragonKnight

Children

“There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.”

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926–2004) American psychiatrist

Silence

“Peace in international affairs: a period of cheating between periods of fighting”

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

Variant: Peace: A period of cheating between two periods of fighting.
Source: The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary

Fight, Cheating

“Beware
At war
Or at peace,
More people die
Of unenlightened self-interest
Than of any other disease”

Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006) American science fiction writer

War, People, Disease

“Give me love, give me peace on earth,
Give me light, give me life, keep me free from birth,
Give me hope, help me cope, with this heavy load,
Trying to, touch and reach you with, heart and soul.”

George Harrison (1943–2001) British musician, former member of the Beatles

Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) (1973)
Lyrics

Love, Life, Hope, Soul

“Go in peace, James Carstairs.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

“All God wants of man is a peaceful heart.”

Meister Eckhart (1260–1328) German theologian

As translated in The Enlightened Mind: An Anthology of Sacred Prose (1991) edited by Stephen Mitchell, p. 115
Variant: God wants nothing of you but the gift of a peaceful heart.

God, Heart

“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Freedom

“A poem by Margot Bickel

A little peace
within the last hours of the almost bygone day
a little silence
between the days
so that the nascent yesterday does not get in the past
and tomorrow is lived for today”

Margot Bickel (1958) German poet

Silence, Past