Quotes about peace
page 8

“The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. ”

Норман Шварцкопф (1895–1958) United States Army general and first superintendent of the New Jersey State Police

“They may call me a sinner, but I am at peace with myself.”

Brigitte Bardot (1934) French model, actor, singer and animal rights activist

“Sometimes I long for a convent cell, with the sublime wisdom of centuries set out on bookshelves all along the wall and a view across the cornfields–there must be cornfields and they must wave in the breeze–and there I would immerse myself in the wisdom of the ages and in myself. Then I might perhaps find peace and clarity. But that would be no great feat. It is right here, in this very place, in the here and the now, that I must find them.”

Etty Hillesum (1914–1943) Jewish diarist

Wisdom, Age

“I want peace, and I will live and let live. I'm like any other man. I've been in this racket long enough to realize that a man in my game must take the breaks, the fortunes of war. I haven't had any peace of mind in years. Every minute I'm in danger of death.”

Al Capone (1899–1947) American gangster

Death, War, Game

“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”

Laozi (-604) semi-legendary Chinese figure, attributed to the 6th century, regarded as the author of the Tao Te Ching and fou…

Past, Future, Depressing, Peaceful

“I’d rather be hated by standing for what’s right than enduring emotional anguish for remaining silent; by remaining silent there is no confrontation nor truth and peace prevails.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

2005

Hate, Truth

“Create all the happiness you are able to create: remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you to add something to the pleasure of others, or to diminish something of their pains. And for every grain of enjoyment you sow in the bosom of another, you shall find a harvest in your own bosom; while every sorrow which you pluck out from the thoughts and feelings of a fellow creature shall be replaced by beautiful peace and joy in the sanctuary of your soul.”

Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer

Advice to a young girl (22 June 1830)

Pain, Happiness, Pleasure, Beauty

“There is a hunger in the human heart for beauty; there is a longing in the human soul for harmony and for peace; there is an unceasing aspiration in the human mind for an understanding of the problems of the Universe; and all these qualities of heart and soul and mind are fundamentally one, arising out of that amazing spiritual fire which dwells in the inmost of the inmost of every human being, and which is a reflection in his human character of the Divine Flame which is fundamentally the Spiritual Man; and this flame is the core of his being.”

Gottfried de Purucker (1874–1942) Author, Theosophist

The Masters and the Path of Occultism (1939)

Hunger, Beauty, Soul, Understanding

“Thus they toil on in trouble and danger all the days of their life, with little opportunity for enjoying, being ever engaged in getting: their only idea of a holiday is to do what the occasion demands, and to them laborious occupation is less of a misfortune than the peace of a quiet life. To describe their character in a word, one might truly say that they were born into the world to take no rest themselves and to give none to others.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, Chapter III
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

Life, World, Idea, Holiday

“Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”

George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States

Letter to Edward Newenham (20 October 1792) http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=WasFi32.xml&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=155&division=div1, these statements and one from a previous letter to Newenham seem to have become combined and altered into a misquotation of Washington's original statements to read: Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. I had hoped that liberal and enlightened thought would have reconciled the Christians so that their religious fights would not endanger the peace of Society. As misquoted in The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get It Back (2006) by Andrew Sullivan, p. 131 1790s

Age, Religion, Hope, Appearance

“Do not leave Japa and Sadhana even for a day. Adjust and adapt. Bear insult and injury. Learn to forget trifles. Tactfully move with people. Train everyone in Bhajan and Kirtan. Create spiritual vibrations wherever you go. Then you will find peace, joy, happiness and prosperity. There will be joy in all faces. This is the way for harmony. When you are agitated and irritated, take to Japa or leave the place for some time. Love all and serve all.”

Swami Sivananda (1887–1963) Indian philosopher

When You Are Agitated
Autobiography of Swami Sivananda

Love, Happiness, People, Making love

“I have found more peace in the knowledge of truth than anger in the feeling of oppression, and the most precious fruit that I could want to collect in this memoir would be to inspire my readers with that peace of mind arising from the clear perception of evil and its causes.”

Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) French politician, mutualist philosopher, economist, and socialist

Preface
What is Property? (1840)

Truth, Feeling, Knowledge, Evil

“There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say: You desire peace; and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we attain it? There are but three conceivable ways. First, to suppress the rebellion by force of arms. This, I am trying to do. Are you for it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not for it, a second way is, to give up the Union. I am against this. Are you for it? If you are, you should say so plainly. If you are not for force, nor yet for dissolution, there only remains some imaginable compromise.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

I do not believe any compromise, embracing the maintenance of the Union, is now possible. All I learn, leads to a directly opposite belief. The strength of the rebellion, is its military — its army. That army dominates all the country, and all the people, within its range. Any offer of terms made by any man or men within that range, in opposition to that army, is simply nothing for the present; because such man or men, have no power whatever to enforce their side of a compromise, if one were made with them.
1860s, Letter to James C. Conkling (1863)

Way, Imagination

“While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in Union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from Union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighbouring countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty. In this sense it is, that your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.”

George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States

1790s, Farewell Address (1796)

Love, Hostility, War, Making love

“Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity, and hardihood—the virtues that made America. The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Letter to S. Stanwood Menken, chairman, committee on Congress of Constructive Patriotism (January 10, 1917). Roosevelt’s sister, Mrs. Douglas Robinson, read the letter to a national meeting, January 26, 1917. Reported in Proceedings of the Congress of Constructive Patriotism, Washington, D.C., January 25–27, 1917 (1917), p. 172
1910s

Love, Life, Truth, Making love

“It is for the people of Asia to run the affairs of Asia, solve the problems of Asia and uphold the security of Asia. The people of Asia have the capability and wisdom to achieve peace and stability in the region through enhanced cooperation.”

Xi Jinping (1953) General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and paramount leader of China

New Asian Security Concept For New Progress in Security Cooperation https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/t1159951.shtml，Shanghai Expo Center, 21 May 2014 2010s

Wisdom, People, Problem

“The new energy affects everyone — Everyone is being affected by the new energy pouring into the world. Those who believed in political, religious and philosophical systems have become disillusioned because they have failed to bring peace, prosperity and happiness. You can only solve the problems of the world with a sense of realism that is not clouded by ideology or market forces.”

Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist

Maitreya's Teachings - The Laws of Life (2005)

Happiness, World, Problem, Sense

“Violence was common in both places, but the violence of the capitalist order seemed inherent in it; whilst the violence of Russia, bad though it was, aimed at a new order based on peace and cooperation and real freedom for the masses. With all her blunders, Soviet Russia had triumphed over enormous difficulties and taken great strides towards this new order. While the rest of the world was in the grip of the depression and going backward in some ways, in the Soviet country a great new world was being built up before our eyes. Russia, following the great Lenin, looked into the future and thought only of what was to be, while other countries lay numbed under the dead hand of the past and spent their energy in preserving the useless relics of a bygone age. In particular, I was impressed by the reports of the great progress made by the backward regions of Central Asia under the Soviet regime. In the balance, therefore, I was all in favour of Russia, and the presence and example of the Soviets was a bright and heartening phenomenon in a dark and dismal world.”

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian lawyer, statesman, and writer, first Prime Minister of India

Autobiography (1936; 1949; 1958)

Bad luck, Age, World, Way

“Soviet Russia has been behaving internationally very much as a satisfied Power, avoiding all trouble, and trying to keep peace at all costs. This is the opposite of a revolutionary policy which would aim at fomenting revolution in other countries. It is a national policy of building up socialism in a single country and avoiding all complications outside. Necessarily, this results in compromises with imperialist and capitalist Powers. But the essential socialist basis of Soviet economy continues, and the success of this is itself the most powerful argument in favour of socialism.”

Jawaharlal Nehru book Glimpses of World History

Glimpses of World History (1949)

Success, Country

“Nations have, in the past, concentrated all their efforts on the accomplishment of one great task, but this has been so in times of war only. During the World War, Germany and England and France lived for one purpose only - to win the war. To that purpose everything else was subordinated. Soviet Russia, for the first time in history, concentrated the whole strength of the nation in a peaceful effort to build, and not to destroy, to raise a backward country industrially and within a framework of socialism.”

Jawaharlal Nehru book Glimpses of World History

Glimpses of World History (1949)

War, World, History, Effort

“Whatever doubts I had about internal happenings in Russia, I was quite clear in my mind about her foreign policy. This had been consistently one of peace and, unlike England and France, of fulfilling international obligations and supporting the cause of democracy abroad. The Soviet Union stood as the one real effective bulwark against Fascism in Europe and Asia. Without the Soviet Union what could be the state of Europe today? Fascist reaction would triumph everywhere and democracy and freedom would become dreams of a past age.”

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian lawyer, statesman, and writer, first Prime Minister of India

The Unity of India (1948)

Age, Dreams, Democracy, Support

“I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I’ll kill you all.”

James Mattis (1950) 26th and current United States Secretary of Defense; United States Marine Corps general

After the invasion of Iraq -and after sending his tanks and artillery home- Mattis sent this message to the Iraqi leaders in every area his men served in, as quoted in Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (2006) by Thomas E. Ricks; as excerpted in Armed Forces Journal (August 2006) http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/fiasco/

Tear

“You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you and allowing that goodness to emerge. If peace is really what you want, then choose peace. The moment that judgement stops through acceptance of what it is, you are free of the mind. You have made room for love, for joy, for peace.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Source: Oneness With All Life: Inspirational Selections from A New Earth (2008)

Love, Making love, Joy

“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

World, Idea, Reading

“Be praised, my Lord, through those who forgive for love of you; through those who endure sickness and trial. Happy those who endure in peace, for by you, Most High, they will be crowned.”

Francis of Assisi Canticle of the Sun

Canticle of the Sun

Love, Happiness, Making love, Forgiveness

“While fame impedes and constricts, obscurity wraps about a man like a mist; obscurity is dark, ample, and free; obscurity lets the mind take its way unimpeded. Over the obscure man is poured the merciful suffusion of darkness. None knows where he goes or comes. He may seek the truth and speak it; he alone is free; he alone is truthful, he alone is at peace.”

Virginia Woolf book Orlando: A Biography

Source: Orlando: A Biography (1928), Ch. 2

Truth, Way

“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. 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 known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.”

Black Elk (1863–1950) Oglala Lakota leader

The Sacred Pipe (1953)

Men, People, Soul, Understanding

“This new patriarch Fox said one day to a justice of peace, before a large assembly of people. "Friend, take care what thou dost; God will soon punish thee for persecuting his saints." This magistrate, being one who besotted himself every day with bad beer and brandy, died of apoplexy two days after; just as he had signed a mittimus for imprisoning some Quakers. The sudden death of this justice was not ascribed to his intemperance; but was universally looked upon as the effect of the holy man's predictions; so that this accident made more Quakers than a thousand sermons and as many shaking fits would have done. Cromwell, finding them increase daily, was willing to bring them over to his party, and for that purpose tried bribery; however, he found them incorruptible, which made him one day declare that this was the only religion he had ever met with that could resist the charms of gold.
The Quakers suffered several persecutions under Charles II; not upon a religious account, but for refusing to pay the tithes, for "theeing" and "thouing" the magistrates, and for refusing to take the oaths enacted by the laws.
At length Robert Barclay, a native of Scotland, presented to the king, in 1675, his "Apology for the Quakers"; a work as well drawn up as the subject could possibly admit. The dedication to Charles II, instead of being filled with mean, flattering encomiums, abounds with bold truths and the wisest counsels. "Thou hast tasted," says he to the king, at the close of his "Epistle Dedicatory," "of prosperity and adversity: thou hast been driven out of the country over which thou now reignest, and from the throne on which thou sittest: thou hast groaned beneath the yoke of oppression; therefore hast thou reason to know how hateful the oppressor is both to God and man. If, after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord, with all thy heart; but forget Him who remembered thee in thy distress, and give thyself up to follow lust and vanity, surely great will be thy guilt, and bitter thy condemnation. Instead of listening to the flatterers about thee, hearken only to the voice that is within thee, which never flatters. I am thy faithful friend and servant, Robert Barclay."”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

The most surprising circumstance is that this letter, though written by an obscure person, was so happy in its effect as to put a stop to the persecution.
The History of the Quakers (1762)

Death, God, Hate, Bad luck

“The strength of Soviet patriotism lies in the fact that it is based not on racial or nationalistic prejudices, but on the peoples’ profound loyalty and devotion to their Soviet Motherland, on the fraternal partnership of the working people of all the nationalities in our country. Soviet patriotism harmoniously combines the national traditions of the peoples and the common vital interests of all the working people of the Soviet Union. Far from dividing them, Soviet patriotism welds all the nations and peoples of our country into a single fraternal family. This should be regarded as the basis of the inviolable friendship of the peoples of the Soviet Union which is growing ever stronger. At the same time the peoples of the U.S.S.R. respect the rights and independence of the peoples of foreign countries and have always shown themselves willing to live in peace and friendship with neighbouring states.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Speech at Celebration Meeting of the Moscow Soviet of Working People’s Deputies and Moscow Party and Public Organizations https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1944/11/06.htm (6 November 1944) Stalin's speeches, writings and authorised interviews

Friendship, People, Family, Time

“I advise you to fear Allah alone, with no partner of associate. I advise you to treat the first Muhâjireen well and acknowledge their seniority. I advise you to treat the Ansār well, and show approval of those among them who do well, and forgive those among them who make mistakes. I advise you to treat the people of the outlying regions well, for they are a shield against the enemy and conduits of fay; do not take anything from them except that which is surplus to their needs. I advise you to treat the people of the desert well, for they are the original Arabs and the protectors of Islam. Take from the surplus of their wealth and give it to their poor. I advise you to treat ahl adh-dhīmmah well, to defend them against their enemies and not burden them with more than they can bear if they fulfill their duties towards the believers or pay the Jizyāh with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. I advise you to fear Allah and fear His wrath, lest you do anything wrong. I advise you to fear Allah with regard to the people, but do not fear the people with regard to Allah. I advise you to treat the people justly, and to devote yourself to looking after them and protecting them against their enemies. Do not show any favour to the rich over the poor. That will be better for your spiritual well being and will help to reduce your burden of sin, and it will be better for your Hereafter, until you meet the One Who knows what is in your heart. I instruct you to be strict with regard to the commands of Allah, His sacred limits and disobedience with all people, both relatives and others. Do not show any mercy to anyone until you have settled the score with him according to his offence. Treat all people as equal, and do not worry about who is as fault or fear the blame of the blamers. Beware of showing favouritism among the believers with regard to the fay that Allah has put you in charge of, lest that lead to injustice. Keep away from that. You are in a position between this world and the Hereafter. If you conduct your affairs justly in this world and refrain from indulgence, that will earn you faith and divine pleasure. I advise you not to let yourself or anyone else do wrong to ahl al-dhimmah. I advise you sincerely to seek thereby the Countenance of Allah and the Hereafter. I have chosen advice for you that I would offer to myself or my son. If you do as I have advised you and follow my instructions, you will have gained a great deal. If you don not accept it or pay attention to it, and do not handle your affairs in the way that pleases Allah, that will be a shortcoming on your part and you will have failed to be sincere, because whims and desires are the same and the cause of sin is Iblīs, who calls man to everything that will lead to his doom. He misguided the generations who came before you and led them to Hell, what a terrible abode. What a bad deal it is for a man to take the enemy of Allah as his friend, who calls him to disobey Allah. Adhere to the truth, strive hard to reach it and admonish yourself. I urge you by Allah to show mercy to the Muslims, honour their elderly, show compassion to their young ones and respect the knowledgeable ones among them. Do not harm them or humiliate them, and do not keep the fay for yourself lest you anger them. Do not deprive them of their stipends when they become due, thus making them poor. Do not keep them away on campaigns for so long that they end up having no children. Do not allow wealth to circulate only among the rich. Do not close your door to the people or allow the strong to oppress the weak. This is my advice to you, as Allah is my witness, and I greet you with peace.”

Umar (585–644) Second Caliph of Rashidun Caliphate and a companion of Muhammad

Umar ibn al-Khattab, Vol. 2, p. 389-390, also quoted in At-Tabqaat ul-Kabir, Vol. 3, p. 339
Last Advise

Bad luck, Children, People, Pleasure

“The only way to have peace is to prepare for war.”

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1708–1778) British politician

To the Duke of Newcastle (c. August 1758), quoted in Basil Williams, The Life of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. Volume I (London: Longmans, 1913), p. 379
1750s

War, Way

“For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity, a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.”

William Blake The Divine Image

The Divine Image, st. 3
1780s, Songs of Innocence (1789–1790)

Love, Making love, Heart

“What if true enlightenment is the peace we feel when we are no longer resisting any thought or feeling that may come to touch us regardless of whether it is positive or negative?”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

Feeling

“This is very scary for a country’s future and a great challenge to the world’s development of peace. Xi Jinping’s madness and stupidity is a representation of this country. China will have to pay a heavy price for it in the future.”

Zhou Fengsuo (1967) Chinese human rights activist

Source: May 12, 2019 The Tiananmen Massacre, 30 years on – Survivor Q&A: Zhou Fengsuo https://hongkongfp.com/2019/05/12/tiananmen-massacre-30-years-survivor-qa-zhou-fengsuo/

Stupidity, World, Future, Madness

“Each day I rise with a hollow heart and gaze across the bed and wonder where you are and who you are with. I still love you but learned to live in peace.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

1983

Love, Making love, Learning, Heart

“The most precious possessions in life cannot be touched by human hands; foremost, is the fulfillment of inner peace.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

1976

Life

“Are we ever at peace in our lives? And if not, can we ever find? So far, I’m still searching.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

1980

“Not every pigeon is a rat with wings. Not every rat with wings is a dove of peace.”

Giannina Braschi (1953) Puerto Rican writer

“Stalin was an example of creativity, humanism and an edifying example of peace and heroism! [...] Everything that he did, he did at the service of the people. Our father Stalin is dead, but when remembering his example, our affection towards him will make our arms grow strong for the building of a great tomorrow, to assure a future in memory of his magnificent example.”

Salvador Allende (1908–1973) Chilean physician and politician

Speech at the Baquedano Theater, Santiago, Chile (1953) https://web.archive.org/web/20101222183523/https://www.northstarcompass.org/nsc1011/nsc1011.pdf

People, Making love, Strong, Memory

“You should not first, give thanks for a pot of gold, but instead, because you’re healthy and others are not. Then give thanks for the food you eat because others are hungry. And then give thanks for the shelter you live within because others must sleep in the squalor of the alleys. And once you have given thanks for these necessities, seek out those without them and your soul will be at peace, and the pot of gold remains within your reach.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

1980

Food, Soul, Sleep

“I pray for the forgiveness of everyone at the end of every prayer. If you keep your faith in Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him), you will receive my prayers in your graves.”

Uwais al-Qarani (594–657) Muslim saint

Quoted in Owais Qarni and his love for Prophet, https://www.arabnews.com/node/930256/islam-perspective by Abu Tariq Hijazi, Arab News, (28 May 2016)

Faith, Forgiveness

“Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
And no religion, too,
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

Lyrics, Imagine (1971 album)

Life, People, Religion, Imagination

“When we say "War is over if you want it," we mean that if everyone demanded peace instead of another TV set, we'd have peace.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

During the Bed-In for Peace in Montreal, Canada (1 June 1969)

War

“It was just a gradual development over the years. Last year was "All You Need Is Love." This year it's "Give Peace a Chance."”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

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?
Statement 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) New York: Hyperion. ISBN: 0786864362. OCLC: 39093547. p. 285.

Love, Making love, Chance

“God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other. Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.”

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) American protestant theologian

Full version of the original (ca. 1942)
The Serenity Prayer (c. 1942)

Life, Wisdom, God, Happiness

“I would like the angels of Heaven to be among us.
I would like an abundance of peace.
I would like full vessels of charity.
I would like rich treasures of mercy.
I would like cheerfulness to preside over all.
I would like Jesus to be present.
I would like the three Marys of illustrious renown to be with us.
I would like the friends of Heaven to be gathered around us from all parts.
I would like myself to be a rent payer to the Lord; that I should suffer distress, that he would bestow a good blessing upon me.
I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings.
I would like to be watching Heaven's family drinking it through all eternity.”

Brigit of Kildare (451–525) Irish abbess and saint

Prayer traditionally attributed to St. Brigit, as quoted in Prayers of the Saints: An Inspired Collection of Holy Wisdom (1996), by Woodeene Koenig-Bricker, p. 77

Family, Angels, Drink, Beer

“This justice, which is so universal but which nevertheless, owing to the encroachments of force and to the influence of religion, has never as yet prevailed in the world of politics, of law, or of economics, should serve as a basis for the new world. Without it there is no liberty, no republic, no prosperity, no peace! It should therefore preside at all our resolutions in order that we may effectively cooperate in establishing peace.”

Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876) Russian revolutionary, philosopher, and theorist of collectivist anarchism

Reasoned Proposal to the Central Committee of the League for Peace and Freedom (1867)

World, Religion, Justice, Law

“There is but one way to bring about the triumph of liberty, of justice, and of peace in Europe's international relations, to make civil war impossible between the different peoples who make up the European family; and that is the formation of the United States of Europe.”

Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876) Russian revolutionary, philosopher, and theorist of collectivist anarchism

Reasoned Proposal to the Central Committee of the League for Peace and Freedom (1867)

War, People, Making love, Family

“To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.”

Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism

Wisdom, Happiness, Health, Family

“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.”

Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) Catholic saint and founder of the Franciscan Order

Love, Peaceful

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

Melody Beattie (1948) American writer

Sense, Past, Gratitude, Happy

“EU membership brings economic security, peace and stability.”

Liz Truss (1975) British Conservative Party politician

EU referendum: Government to spend £9m on leaflets to every home https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35980571 BBC News (7 April 2016) 2016

“Life is generous and peaceful when it is proud of its science.”

Zafar Mirzo (1972)

Life, Science

“Death on the cross raised many doubts in the people. Having some bruises on the hands and feet. But it would've been a different story if the methods of hanging was involved. Simply, because it is the most peaceful death that doesn't involve the shedding of the blood.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Death, People

“Freedom is sweeter than peace. Meaning, every country that has a prime minister without a president as the head of the state; has got peace but not freedom. Their sovereignty is nothing but an illusion.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Freedom, Country

“The ambivert doesn't care whether you come as a friend or an enemy. He's always at peace.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“Be at peace; place everything on my shoulders. I will take care of it. I give my penitents only small penances because I do the rest myself.”

Leopold Mandić (1866–1942) Catholic priest; saint

To his penitents. Quoted in "An important anniversary to celebrate", The Malta Independent (20 August 2017) http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2017-08-20/newspaper-letters/An-important-anniversary-to-celebrate-6736177986.

“Peace is a path of hope, a path on which one advances through dialogue, reconciliation and conversion.”

Pope Francis (1936) 266th Pope of the Catholic Church

On New Year, Pope Wishes the Faithful a 2020 of Peace, Voice of America, (1 January 2020)
2020s, 2020

Hope

“If i could change one thing about the world, it'd be:
Their thinking, because nowadays their thinking has become so sick that they do not see anything other than their religion. they keep fighting and quarreling with each other in the name of religion, they all forget that there is no greater religion than humanity. I want to change their thinking so that peace and harmony prevails between them.”

Shabdon Ka Jahan

World, Religion, Thinking, Change

“In education dwells the seed of hope: hope for peace and justice, hope for beauty and goodness; hope for social harmony.”

Pope Francis (1936) 266th Pope of the Catholic Church

2020s, 2021 Source: Cited in Pope Francis: Art creates brotherhood and friendship https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-12/pope-francis-art-creates-brotherhood-and-friendship.html in the Vatican News. (15 December 2021)

Education, Justice, Beauty, Hope

“Looking back on the long period of post-war peace, reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse, I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never again be repeated.”

Naruhito (1960) Emperor of Japan since 2019

Source: "Japan marks 76th anniversary of WWII surrender with emperor expressing "deep remorse" over wartime atrocities" in Xinhua http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/asiapacific/2021-08/15/c_1310128713.htm (15 August 2021)

War, Hope, Feeling, Past

“Whatever you accept completely will take you to peace, including the acceptance that you cannot accept, that you are in resistance.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Source: Stillness Speaks (2003), Ch 6

“Many things in your life matter but only one thing matters absolutely. It matters whether you succeed or fail in the eyes of the world. It matters whether you are healthy or not healthy, whether you are educated or not educated. It matters whether you are rich or poor. It certainly makes a difference in your life. Yes, all these things matter, relatively speaking. But they don't matter absolutely. There is something that matters more than any of those things and that is finding the essence of who your are beyond that short-lived entity, that short-lived personalized sense of self. You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Source: Stillness Speaks (2003), Ch 5

Life, World, Education, Sense

“Finding that dimension frees you and the world from the suffering you inflict on yourself and others when the mind-made “little me” is all you know and runs your life. Love, joy, creative expansion, and lasting inner peace cannot come into your life except through that unconditioned dimension of consciousness.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Source: Stillness Speaks (2003), Ch 2

Love, Life, World, Suffering

“We on an ultralight beam
This is a God dream
This is everything Deliver us serenity
Deliver us peace
Deliver us loving
We know we need it
That's why we need You now
Pray for Paris,
Pray for the parents.”

Kanye West (1977) American rapper, singer and songwriter

Ultralight Beam
Lyrics, The Life of Pablo (2016)

Love, God, Dreams, Parent

“Peace, peace! Dost thou not see my baby at my breast, That sucks the nurse asleep?”

Cleopatra VII (-69–-30 BC) last active pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt

As quoted, Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare, Act V, scene ππ (1623)

Baby

“We need to strategize how we can live in a world beyond nukes, because there will never be peace as long as these weapons exist.”

Abby Martin (1984) American journalist

Interview https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/10/20/what-are-the-prospects-for-peace-an-interview-with-abby-martin/ with Counterpunch (2021)

World

“" Love is life dealth, and joy, it's irrespective of change, peace everthing. I love you, that's all I know right now. SEMPETERNAL " 1 Abah Sule, PE”

Engr.Abah Sule

Love, Life, Change, Joy

“All of life is spiritual, and therefore all of life's problems are spiritually based, and spiritually solved. The only peace in all the world that is sustaining is Internal Peace.”

Neale Donald Walsch (1943) American writer

Life, World, Problem

“Nature is the greatest healer, by reconnecting back to nature, we begin changing the world all around us. We begin living from the inside out, breathing in the beautiful 'Chi,' becoming peaceful, developing serenity within ourselves, and that will make this planet a much more harmonious place to live in.”

Ralph Smart

World, Beauty, Nature, Change

“The music is the best … even more than peace and love”

Andrés Calamaro (1961) Argentine musician and composer

Love, Music

“It's dangerous, son."
"What's dangerous?"
"When a man goes outside his house to look for peace.”

Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965) playwright and writer

Source: A Raisin in the Sun: The Unfilmed Original Screenplay

Housing

“Peace doesn't require two people; it requires only one. It has to be you. The problem begins and ends there.”

Byron Katie (1942) American spiritual writer

Source: Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life

People, Problem

“The photographer in my head says:
Give me peace.
Flash.
Give me release.
Flash.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Source: Invisible Monsters

“I prefer the most unfair peace to the most righteous war.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

War

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.”

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

In a 1955 response to an accusation that he was "disturbing the peace" by his activism during the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, as quoted in Let the Trumpet Sound : A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr (1982) by Stephen B. Oates
1950s

Justice, Peaceful

“And you know, there's less charm in life when you think about death--but it's more peaceful.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

Life, Death, Thinking

“Inner peace is impossible without patience. Wisdom requires patience. Spiritual growth implies the mastery of patience. Patience allows the unfolding of destiny to proceed at its won unhurried pace.”

Brian L. Weiss

Source: Muchas Vidas, Muchos Maestros

Wisdom, Patience

“I am at peace with God and all mankind.”

Harriet Tubman (1820–1913) African-American abolitionist and humanitarian

God

“I like to think I have the guts to stand up anonymously in a western democracy and call for things no-one else believes in—like peace and justice and freedom.”

Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter

Source: Wall and Piece (2007)

Justice, Democracy, Thinking, Freedom

“I believe in the religion of Islam. I believe in Allah and peace.”

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist

"Presidential Candidates Proposing to Ban Muslim Immigration to the United States" http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/muhammad-ali-hits-trump-misguided-murderers-sabotaging-islam-n477351 (9 December 2015). Context: I am a Muslim and there is nothing Islamic about killing innocent people in Paris, San Bernardino, or anywhere else in the world... True Muslims know that the ruthless violence of so called Islamic Jihadists goes against the very tenets of our religion... We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda... They have alienated many from learning about Islam. True Muslims know or should know that it goes against our religion to try and force Islam on anybody.

Religion, Peaceful

“Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.”

Howard Thurman (1899–1981) American writer

Source: Meditations of the Heart

Beauty, Joy

“People of Earth, I come in peace!”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

People

“Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grass and gentians of glacier meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of Nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but Nature's sources never fail. … The petty discomforts that beset the awkward guest, the unskilled camper, are quickly forgotten, while all that is precious remains. Fears vanish as soon as one is fairly free in the wilderness.”

John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author

" The Yellowstone National Park http://books.google.com/books?id=smQCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA509", The Atlantic Monthly, volume LXXXI, number 486 (April 1898) pages 509-522 (at pages 515-516); modified slightly and reprinted in Our National Parks http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/our_national_parks/ (1901), chapter 2: The Yellowstone National Park 1900s, Our National Parks (1901)

Age, Fear, Mountain, Autumn

“In the cruel and terrible time in which our generation has been condemned to live on this earth, we must never make peace with evil. We must never become indifferent to others or undemanding of ourselves.”

Vasily Grossman (1905–1964) Soviet writer and journalist who originally trained as an engineer

Evil, Time, Indifference

“Yours in demigodishness, and all that. Peace out!”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

“The basketball court for me, during a game, is the most peaceful place I can imagine. On the basketball court, I worry about nothing. When I'm out there, no one can bother me…”

Michael Jordan (1963) American retired professional basketball player and businessman

Imagination, Game

“Oh, that fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

Variant: Warring for peace is like screwing for virginity!!
Source: P.S. I Love You

Fight

“Show me a god that does not demand mortal suffering.
Show me a god that celebrates diversity, a celebration that embraces even non-believers, and is not threatened by them.
Show me a god that understands the meaning of peace. In life, not in death.”

Steven Erikson book The Bonehunters

Source: The Bonehunters

Life, Death, God, Understanding

“Everything we do is infused with the energy with which we do it. If we're frantic, life will be frantic. If we're peaceful, life will be peaceful. And so our goal in any situation becomes inner peace.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Life

“Once you make peace with authority you
become an authority”

Jim Morrison (1943–1971) lead singer of The Doors

“Peace has to be created, in order to be maintained. It is the product of Faith, Strength, Energy, Will, Sympathy, Justice, Imagination, and the triumph of principle. It will never be achieved by passivity and quietism.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Faith, Justice, Imagination, Peaceful

“Peace of mind produces right values, right values produce right thoughts. Right thoughts produce right actions and right actions produce work which will be a material reflection for others to see of the serenity at the center of it all.”

Robert M. Pirsig book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“I have a system with bathrooms. I spend a lot of time in them. They are sanctuaries, public places of peace spaced throughout the world for people like me.”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

People, World, Time

“Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition of benevolence, confidence, justice.”

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

War, Justice, Confidence, Peaceful

“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

Life, Death

“Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.”

Thomas Merton (1915–1968) Priest and author

War, Truth, Perfection, Peaceful

“There are a lot of things a person with two hands couldn't steal," Eddis said.
"So?"
"If it's impossible to steal them with two hands, it's no more impossible to steal them with one. Steal peace, Eugenides. Steal me some time.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

Time, Personality

“Love should bring joy, it should grant a person peace, but here and not, it was bringing only pain.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Source: Dear John

Love, Pain, Joy, Personality

“Where there is love, there is courage
Where there is courage, there is peace
Where there is peace, there is God
And when you have God, you have everything.”

Louise Penny book A Fatal Grace

Variant: Where there is love there is courage,
where there is courage there is peace,
where there is peace there is God.
And when you have God, you have everything.
Source: A Fatal Grace

Love, God, Courage

Quotes about peace page 8

Quotes about peace
page 8