Quotes about peace
page 34

Calvin Coolidge photo
Thomas Jefferson photo
Bret Harte photo

“There is peace in the swamp, though the quiet is Death”

Bret Harte (1836–1902) American author and poet

East and West Poems, Part I, The Copperhead.

Ernst Röhm photo
Henry Clay photo
Benjamín Netanyahu photo

“You don't need to do nation building in Israel, we're already built. You don't need to export democracy to Israel, we've already got it. You don't need to send American troops to Israel, we defend ourselves… Israel is not what is wrong about the Middle East, Israel is what is right about the Middle East… The tyranny in Tehran brutalizes its own people. It supports attacks against American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. It subjugates Lebanon and Gaza. It sponsors terror worldwide… A nuclear-armed Iran would ignite a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. It would give terrorists a nuclear umbrella. It would make the nightmare of nuclear terrorism a clear and present danger throughout the world. I want you to understand what this means. They could put the bomb anywhere. They could put it on a missile. It could be on a container ship in a port, or in a suitcase on a subway… Now the threat to my country cannot be overstated. Those who dismiss it are sticking their heads in the sand. Less than seven decades after six million Jews were murdered, Iran's leaders deny the Holocaust of the Jewish people, while calling for the annihilation of the Jewish state. Leaders who spew such venom, should be banned from every respectable forum on the planet. But there is something that makes the outrage even greater: The lack of outrage. In much of the international community, the calls for our destruction are met with utter silence. It is even worse because there are many who rush to condemn Israel for defending itself against Iran's terror proxies… When we say never again, we mean never again! Israel always reserves the right to defend itself… In Judea and Samaria, the Jewish people are not foreign occupiers. We are not the British in India. We are not the Belgians in the Congo. This is the land of our forefathers, the Land of Israel, to which Abraham brought the idea of one God, where David set out to confront Goliath, and where Isaiah saw a vision of eternal peace… No distortion of history can deny the four thousand year old bond, between the Jewish people and the Jewish land… Peace cannot be imposed. It must be negotiated. But it can only be negotiated with partners committed to peace.”

Benjamín Netanyahu (1949) Israeli prime minister

Address to joint meeting of the U.S. Congress http://www.c-span.org/video/?299666-1/israeli-prime-minister-netanyahu-address-joint-meeting-congress (24 May 2011).
2010s, 2011, Address to joint meeting of the U.S. Congress (May 2011)

Chandrika Kumaratunga photo
Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood photo

“Let me beg my readers to do their utmost for the success of the Peace Ballot. There is no single thing which they can do of greater value for Peace. … Every vote is wanted and may contribute to prevent war and save the lives of countless thousands of our fellow citizens.”

Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood (1864–1958) lawyer, politician and diplomat in the United Kingdom

As quoted in The Avoidable War : Lord Cecil and the Policy of Principle, 1933-1935 (1999) by J. Kenneth Brody, Ch. 11 : Voting For Peace, p. 173

Esaias Tegnér photo

“Hener was the hero-king,
Heaven-born, dear to us,
Showing his shield
A shelter for peace.”

Esaias Tegnér (1782–1846) Swedish poet, professor and bishop

Canto XXI. St. 7.
Fridthjof's Saga (1820-1825)

Stephen R. Covey photo
Jimmy Carter photo
Harold Lloyd photo
Carole Lombard photo

“At first thought, we might say, 'our job is to win a war'…but I am sure it would be closer to the hearts of all of us to say, 'We are fighting a war to assure a peace…our kind of peace.”

Carole Lombard (1908–1942) American actress

Speaking at an Indianapolis war-bond rally, 15 January 1942
Quoted in Carole Lombard, The Hoosier Tornado by Wes D. Gehring, p. 1

David Brin photo
Osama bin Laden photo
Leopoldo Galtieri photo
George W. Bush photo

“Saloons provide moments of genuine ecstasy — but only if your soul is at peace and the rest of your life bears contemplating. Otherwise, they are palaces of misery.”

Wilfrid Sheed (1930–2011) English-American novelist and essayist

"Now That Men Can Cry...," p. 299
The Good Word & Other Words (1978)

Aleksis Kivi photo
Tawakkol Karman photo

“I think it’s —you know, it’s victory of the value of human rights, of the value of anti-corruption, of the value of anti-dictatorship. So I don’t think that I am the only one who win this Nobel”

Tawakkol Karman (1979) Yemeni journalist, politician, human rights activist, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient

Peace Prize
2010s, Democracy Now! interview (2011)

George Santayana photo

“Animals are born and bred in litters. Solitude grows blessed and peaceful only in old age.”

George Santayana (1863–1952) 20th-century Spanish-American philosopher associated with Pragmatism

Source: Persons and Places (1944), p. 61

Helen Keller photo
Torquato Tasso photo

“The time for work is while the sun's light shines,
but every living thing finds peace at night.”

Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) Italian poet

Tempo è da travagliar mentre il sol dura;
Ma nella notte ogni animale ha pace.
Canto VI, stanza 52 (tr. Wickert)
Gerusalemme Liberata (1581)

William L. Shirer photo
Christopher Pitt photo
William Cowper photo

“What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.”

William Cowper (1731–1800) (1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist

No. 1, "Walking With God"
Olney Hymns (1779)

Geert Wilders photo
Cesare Pavese photo

“That war in which I had been sheltering, convinced of having accepted it, of having made my own uncomfortable peace, grew more ferocious, bit deeper, reached into one's nerves and brain.”

Cesare Pavese (1908–1950) Italian poet, novelist, literary critic, and translator

Source: The house on the hill (1949), Chapter 13, p. 125

Nathan Bedford Forrest photo
Muhammad photo

“Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "A man follows the religion of his close friend, so each of you should be very careful about whom he takes as a close friend."”

Muhammad (570–632) Arabian religious leader and the founder of Islam

Riyadh-as-Saliheen by Imam Al-Nawawi, volume 3, hadith number 367
Sunni Hadith

Aldo Capitini photo
Ela Bhatt photo

“…Poverty and violence are not God made, they are man made. Poverty and peace cannot coexist.”

Ela Bhatt (1933) founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA)

Discussion with Ela Bhatt, Founder, Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA)

Franklin D. Roosevelt photo
Roderick Long photo
Dwight D. Eisenhower photo
Alfred de Zayas photo

“States have the sacred duty to ensure peace, while individuals and peoples have the right to peace.”

Alfred de Zayas (1947) American United Nations official

Report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order on the right of self determination http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IntOrder/Pages/Reports.aspx.
2015, Report submitted to the UN General Assembly

Robert Burton photo

“The commonwealth of Venice in their armory have this inscription: "Happy is that city which in time of peace thinks of war."”

Section 2, member 6, Perturbations of the mind rectified. From himself, by resisting to the utmost, confessing his grief to a friend, etc.
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), Part II

Saddam Hussein photo
Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel photo
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq photo

“Cricket can be a bridge and a glue… Cricket for peace is my mission.”

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (1924–1988) 6th President of Pakistan

Quoted in Helen Exley Cricket Quotations (1992)
Source: Dictionary of Quotations, Chambers: Edinburgh, U.K, 2005, p. 937

Immortal Technique photo
William L. Shirer photo
Christopher Hitchens photo

“"Peace through Strength," surely history's most exploded nostrum.”

Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist

"The Twilight of Panzerkommunismus" (1988).
1990s, For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports (1993)

Gustave de Molinari photo
John F. Kennedy photo
Mary Parker Follett photo
Frank Chodorov photo
André Maurois photo
Adelaide Anne Procter photo

“If thou couldst trust, poor soul!
In Him who rules the whole,
Thou wouldst find peace and rest;
Wisdom and sight are well, but trust is best.”

Adelaide Anne Procter (1825–1864) English poet and songwriter

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 597.

“He came to love, He came to warn
Why do you weep on the day He's born?
He draws the path I walk upon
I died to live just for the Son
Find love, find peace
If you let Him increase”

Ysabella Brave (1979) American singer

"He Will Increase" (24 December 2009) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQEXWelvxOU

George Eliot photo
Adolf Hitler photo

“In order to persuade Britain to pack up, to compel her to make peace, it was essential to rob her of her hope of being able still to confront us, on the continent itself, with an adversary of a stature equal to our own.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

15 February 1945 — discussing the reasons for the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Disputed, The Testament of Adolf Hitler (1945)

Frank Sinatra photo
Robert E. Howard photo
Lavrentiy Beria photo
George Shultz photo
Tawakkol Karman photo
John Dear photo
Alfred de Zayas photo

“If we want world peace, we must break the vicious circle of violence and reprisal, of an eye for an eye, of endless hate.”

Alfred de Zayas (1947) American United Nations official

Rights expert urges the UN General Assembly to adopt a more decisive role in peace-making (For International Day of Peace, Saturday 21 September 2013) http://dezayasalfred.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/rights-expert-urges-the-un-general-assembly-to-adopt-a-more-decisive-role-in-peace-making-for-international-day-of-peace-saturday-21-september-2013/.
2013, 2013 - International Peace Day

Richard Cobden photo
Vladimir Lenin photo

“Peaceful surrender of power by the bourgeoisie is possible, if it is convinced that resistance is hopeless and if it prefers to save its skin. It is much more likely, of course, that even in small states socialism will not be achieved without civil war, and for that reason the only programme of international Social-Democracy must be recognition of civil war, though violence is, of course, alien to our ideals.”

Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution

"A Caricature of Marxism and Imperialist Economism" (August - October 1916) http://search.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/carimarx/6.htm Collected Works, Vol. 23, pp. 28-76 http://www.jstor.org/pss/3516954
1910s

Richard Holbrooke photo
Gustav Stresemann photo

“In the West our hand of peace has reached out into empty air. The responsibility there falls on our enemies. If we have to continue the struggle, then the hearts of the people will be where the flags of the country are flying, and we hope and pray for a German victory that will bring us the peace that has been denied to us…We thank Secretary of State von Kuehlmann and his collaborators for the tenacity and diplomatic skill with which they represented our German interests at the negotiations in Brest…I now come to the question of the strategic demarcation of frontiers, the possible allocation of Polish territories to Germany and Prussia. My political friends are of the opinion that in the question of the strategic safeguarding of frontiers decisive importance should be attached to the voice of the Supreme Command. From our own national point of view we are not at all interested in having Polish territory added to Germany in any way…It will be a matter for our military leaders to examine the question to what extent strategic security of our frontiers is a vital necessity to Germany. If so, we shall accept it because there is a national need for it.”

Gustav Stresemann (1878–1929) German politician, statesman, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Speech in the Reichstag (19 February 1918), quoted in W. M. Knight-Patterson, Germany. From Defeat to Conquest 1913-1933 (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1945), pp. 149-150.
1910s

Enoch Powell photo

“One of the most dangerous words is 'extremist'. A person who commits acts of violence is not an 'extremist'; he is a criminal. If he commits those acts of violence with the object of detaching part of the territory of the United Kingdom and attaching it to a foreign country, he is an enemy under arms. There is the world of difference between a citizen who commits a crime, in the belief, however mistaken, that he is thereby helping to preserve the integrity of his country and his right to remain a subject of his sovereign, and a person, be he citizen or alien, who commits a crime with the intention of destroying that integrity and rendering impossible that allegiance. The former breaches the peace; the latter is executing an act of war. The use of the word 'extremist' of either or both conveys a dangerous untruth: it implies that both hold acceptable opinions and seek permissible ends, only that they carry them to 'extremes'. Not so: the one is a lawbreaker; the other is an enemy.

The same purpose, that of rendering friend and foe indistinguishable, is achieved by references to the 'impartiality' of the British troops and to their function as 'keeping the peace'. The British forces are in Northern Ireland because an avowed enemy is using force of arms to break down lawful authority in the province and thereby seize control. The army cannot be 'impartial' towards an enemy, nor between the aggressor and the aggressed: they are not glorified policemen, restraining two sets of citizens who might otherwise do one another harm, and duty bound to show no 'partiality' towards one lawbreaker rather than another. They are engaged in defeating an armed attack upon the state. Once again, the terminology is designed to obliterate the vital difference between friend and enemy, loyal and disloyal.

Then there are the 'no-go' areas which have existed for the past eighteen months. It would be incredible, if it had not actually happened, that for a year and a half there should be areas in the United Kingdom where the Queen's writ does not run and where the citizen is protected, if protected at all, by persons and powers unknown to the law. If these areas were described as what they are—namely, pockets of territory occupied by the enemy, as surely as if they had been captured and held by parachute troops—then perhaps it would be realised how preposterous is the situation. In fact the policy of refraining from the re-establishment of civil government in these areas is as wise as it would be to leave enemy posts undisturbed behind one's lines.”

Enoch Powell (1912–1998) British politician

Speech to the South Buckinghamshire Conservative Women's Annual Luncheon in Beaconsfield (19 March 1971), from Reflections of a Statesman. The Writings and Speeches of Enoch Powell (London: Bellew, 1991), pp. 487-488.
1970s

Ernesto Che Guevara photo
Christopher Hitchens photo
Muhammad photo
Rory Bremner photo
Henry Van Dyke photo
William L. Shirer photo
David Icke photo
Ioannis Metaxas photo

“The Italian Government has repeatedly noted that, during the course of the present war, the Greek Government has adopted and maintained a position which goes not only against the smooth and peaceful… Alors, c'est la guerre.”

Ioannis Metaxas (1871–1941) Greek politician

Ioannis Metaxas, quoted in: Ángelos Terzákis (1990) The Greek Epic: 1940 - 1941. p. 36.
His response to the Italian ultimatum given by Ambassador Emanuele Grazzi, 28 October 1940. Greece entered the WWII.

Gustav Stresemann photo
Mikhail Gorbachev photo
Ehud Barak photo

“[How is it consistent with what you advocated this evening in terms of a vision for peace, that you continued to allow the building of settlements in the West Bank, during your primeministership? ] Let me tell you, first of all, during my term as a Prime Minister, we have not built a single new settlement. I ordered the dismantling of many voluntary -- I don't know how to call it -- new settlements that had been set on top of hills in different parts of the West Bank, basically. But, I allowed contracts, contracts that had been signed, legally, in Israel, beforehand. To build new neighborhoods in some big cities in the West Bank, cities with 25,000 or 30,000 people. And very few new homes, in small settlements, where youngsters, who came back from the army service, asked to build their home near the home of their parents. Now, Israel is a law-abiding state, you cannot break contracts, there is Supreme Court. If the government behaves in a way that is not proper, any individual can appeal and change whatever we decide. Realizing that this is a sensitive issue from the Palestinian side, I talked to Arafat, at the beginning of my term as a Prime Minister, and I told him: Mr. Chairman, I know that you are worried about it, it creates some problems, in your own constituency. But let me tell you, we have a great opportunity here to put an end to the whole conflict, in a year and a half. When President Clinton that invested unbelievable amount of energy and political capital in trying to solve it, and he's still in power. Now, I understand your problem with settlement if there is no end, there is no time limit, and you are afraid that maybe the accumulation of new settlements will change the nature of the situation, for the worse, from your position. So I tell you, out of our own considerations, independent of you, we have decided not to set even a single new settlement. We will not allow anyone to establish his own private initiatives on the hills, for our own reasons, not because of you. But at the same time I will respect any contract that has been signed, under law, in Israel. But -- and here is a point -- bearing in mind that we can put an end to the conflict, to reach an agreement within a year and a half, why the hell it will matter? To build a new building in Israel takes more than a year and a half, so you won't see any building that is not already emerging from the ground, having it's roof before we can reach an agreement. Now if such a building happens to be in a settlement that will become, under the agreement, part of the new independent Palestine, why the hell you have to care? Take it, use it, put some refugees in it. And if it will happen to be a part of what will be agreed, as Israel, in a mutual agreement that is signed by you, why the hell do you care, if you agree? I believe that that simple answer would not solve his public -- or internal political -- problems, but it would solve the real issue if the will was there to make peace, and not just to politically maneuver and manipulate.”

Ehud Barak (1942) Israeli politician and prime minister

Speech at UC Berkeley http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/19324/edition_id/391/format/html/displaystory.html, November 22, 2002

George Marshall photo

“The price of peace is eternal vigilance.”

George Marshall (1880–1959) US military leader, Army Chief of Staff

This has been attributed to Marshall, and he might have used the phrase, but earlier uses exist:
There is an imperialism that deserves all honor and respect — an imperialism of service in the discharge of great duties. But with too many it is the sense of domination and aggrandisement, the glorification of power. The price of peace is eternal vigilance.
Leonard H. Courtney as quoted in The Life Of Lord Courtney (I920) by G. P. Gooch
Courtney's statement however is probably derived from an earlier statement with several variants:
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
These have often been attributed to Thomas Jefferson, but also Thomas Paine, Abraham Lincoln, and many others; Alfred Denning in The Road to Justice (1988) states that the phrase originated in a statement of Irish orator John Philpot Curran in 1790: "It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance."
Misattributed

Aron Ra photo

“When I read the gospels, I don’t see a wise and benevolent sage imparting truth. I see a religious extremist and faith-healer, who is just as much of a scam artist as any of the exorcists still practicing today. Remember that Jesus taught his disciples how to do faith healing too, just like tele-evangelists still do. Jesus didn’t believe in washing your hands because he didn’t know about pathogens. He believed in demons instead. And he cursed a fig tree because he didn’t know they were out-of-season. Likewise he didn’t know that the farmers of his day already knew about other seeds that were smaller than mustard seeds. My best evidence was Jesus’ complaint that the people who knew him since childhood wouldn’t buy any of his bullshit. So the only indications I had to believe in a historic Jesus were the very points that implied that he could not be a god nor have any real connection to God. So there are only two possibilities: Jesus was either an ignorant 1st century charlatan and cult leader heavily exaggerated like Robin Hood, or he’s a completely imaginary legendary figure like Hercules. Remember how Jesus said that he came not to bring peace but a sword; that he would divide husbands from their wives and children from their parents all on behalf of beliefs based on faith? Remember also that faith, (an unreasonable assertion of complete conviction which is not based on reason and is defended against all reason) —is the most dishonest position it is possible to have. Any belief which requires faith should be rejected for that reason.”

Aron Ra (1962) Aron Ra is an atheist activist and the host of the Ra-Men Podcast

"Jesus never existed" http://www.patheos.com/blogs/reasonadvocates/2015/11/03/jesus-never-existed/, Patheos (November 3, 2015)
Patheos

Bill O'Neill photo
Arthur Seyss-Inquart photo

“I hope that this execution is the last act of the tragedy of the Second World War, and that the lesson taken from this world war will be that peace and understanding should exist between peoples. I believe in Germany.”

Arthur Seyss-Inquart (1892–1946) austrian chancellor and politician, convicted of crimes against humanity in Nuremberg Trials and sentenced …

Last words, 10/16/46. Quoted in "Justice at Nuremberg" - Page 506 - by Robert E. Conot - History - 1984

Phillip Abbott Luce photo

“[The state is] never a contract among peaceful men but always a conquest of one group over another.”

Phillip Abbott Luce (1935–1998)

As quoted in “For Utopia, Curb State Controls”, Peggy Baker, Ames Daily Tribune (Ames, Iowa), January 23, 1970

Muhammad photo
Neville Chamberlain photo
Matthew Prior photo
Wendy Doniger photo
Christopher Hitchens photo
Sukarno photo
Andrew Carnegie photo
Calvin Coolidge photo
Winston S. Churchill photo
John Robert Seeley photo

“Commerce in itself may favour peace, but when commerce is artificially shut out by a decree of Government from some promising territory, then commerce just as naturally favours war.”

John Robert Seeley (1834–1895) British historian

p. 110 https://books.google.com/books?id=Zsm3TLe1cAUC&pg=PA110
The Expansion of England (1883)

“Ten poor men sleep in peace on one straw heap, as Saadi sings,
But the immensest empire is too narrow for two kings.”

William R. Alger (1822–1905) American clergyman and poet

"Elbow Room", p. 188.
Poetry of the Orient, 1865 edition

Margaret Fuller photo

“The day wears heavily, — why, then, ignore it;
Peace is the soul's desire, — such thoughts restore it;
The truth thou art, — it needs not implore it.”

Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) American feminist, poet, author, and activist

Life Without and Life Within (1859), The One In All

Margaret Mead photo
John Dear photo