„Without justice and love, peace will always be a great illusion.“
Helder Camara4
Brazilian Catholic priest, archbishop of Olinda and Recife 1909 - 1999Related quotes
„There is no true peace without fairness, truth, justice and solidarity.“
— Pope John Paul II 264th Pope of the Catholic Church, saint 1920 - 2005
Message for the celebration of XXXIII World Day of Peace, 8 December 1999
Source: www.vatican.va http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_08121999_xxxiii-world-day-for-peace_en.html
„Without justice there can be no love.“
— Bell Hooks American author, feminist, and social activist 1952
— Martin Luther King, Jr. American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement 1929 - 1968
1960s, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)
Context: Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political and economic change. … Now a lot of us are preachers, and all of us have our moral convictions and concerns, and so often have problems with power. There is nothing wrong with power if power is used correctly. You see, what happened is that some of our philosophers got off base. And one of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites — polar opposites — so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love.
It was this misinterpretation that caused Nietzsche, who was a philosopher of the will to power, to reject the Christian concept of love. It was this same misinterpretation which induced Christian theologians to reject the Nietzschean philosophy of the will to power in the name of the Christian idea of love. Now, we've got to get this thing right. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love. And this is what we must see as we move on. What has happened is that we have had it wrong and confused in our own country, and this has led Negro Americans in the past to seek their goals through power devoid of love and conscience.
This is leading a few extremists today to advocate for Negroes the same destructive and conscienceless power that they have justly abhorred in whites. It is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our times.
„There will never be peace and justice until we know justice and peace in our hearts.“
— José Cabantan 1957
Mindanao Bishop condemns communist guerrilla violence http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Mindanao-Bishop-condemns-communist-guerrilla-violence-31554.html (July 7, 2014)
„Is it against justice or reason to love ourselves? And why is self-love always a vice?“
— Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues French writer, a moralist 1715 - 1747
Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 183.
„It is the great challenge of our time: How to achieve justice, with struggle, but without war.“
— Howard Zinn author and historian 1922 - 2010
Declarations of Independence: Cross-examining American Ideology (HarperCollins, 1990), Ch. 5, p. 105
— Kurien Kunnumpuram Indian theologian 1931 - 2018
Kunnumpuram, K. (ed) (2007) World Peace: An Impossible Dream? , Mumbai: St Pauls
On Peace
— Francis Daw Tang 1946
Source: Myanmar bishops call for peace and justice in war torn Kachin state https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2018-05/myanmar-bishop-kachin-conflict-peace-justice.html (3 May 2018)
— Arundhati Roy Indian novelist, essayist 1961
From an interview with Andrew Denton on Enough Rope screened 18th October 2004 on ABC Australia http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1219838.htm
Interviews
— Daniel Dennett, book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
Breaking the Spell (2006)
Context: The daily actions of religious people have accomplished uncounted good deeds throughout history, alleviating suffering, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick. Religions have brought the comfort of belonging and companionship to many who would otherwise have passed through this life all alone, without glory or adventure. They have not just provided first aid, in effect, for people in difficulties; they have provided the means for changing the world in ways that remove those difficulties. As Alan Wolfe says, "Religion can lead people out of cycles of poverty and dependency just as it led Moses out of Egypt". There is much for religion lovers to be proud of in their traditions, and much for all of us to be grateful for.The fact that so many people love their religions as much as, or more than, anything else in their lives is a weighty fact indeed. I am inclined to think that nothing could matter more than what people love. At any rate, I can think of no value that I would place higher. I would not want to live in a world without love. Would a world with peace, but without love, be a better world? Not if the peace was achieved by drugging the love (and hate) out of us, or by suppression. Would a world with justice and freedom, but without love, be a better world? Not if it was achieved by somehow turning us all into loveless law-abiders with none of the yearnings or envies or hatreds that are wellsprings of injustice and subjugation.It is hard to consider such hypotheticals, and I doubt if we should trust our first intuitions about them, but, for what it is worth, I surmise that we almost all want a world in which love, justice, freedom, and peace are all present, as much as possible, but if we had to give up one of these, it wouldn't — and shouldn't — be love. But, sad to say, even if it is true that nothing could matter more than love, it wouldn't follow from this that we don't have reason to question the things that we, and others, love. Love is blind, as they say, and because love is blind, it often leads to tragedy: to conflicts in which one love is pitted against another love, and something has to give, with suffering guaranteed in any resolution.
„The economic illusion is the belief that social justice is bad for economic growth.“
— Robert Kuttner American journalist 1943
Introduction, p. 1 (First text line.)
The Economic Illusion (1984)
— Theodore Roosevelt American politician, 26th president of the United States 1858 - 1919
Foreword http://www.bartleby.com/55/100.html
1910s, Theodore Roosevelt — An Autobiography (1913)
Context: It seems to me that, for the nation as for the individual, what is most important is to insist on the vital need of combining certain sets of qualities, which separately are common enough, and, alas, useless enough. Practical efficiency is common, and lofty idealism not uncommon; it is the combination which is necessary, and the combination is rare. Love of peace is common among weak, short-sighted, timid, and lazy persons; and on the other hand courage is found among many men of evil temper and bad character. Neither quality shall by itself avail. Justice among the nations of mankind, and the uplifting of humanity, can be brought about only by those strong and daring men who with wisdom love peace, but who love righteousness more than peace.
„All goes on as before, as always. Illusions, illusions.“
— Haile Selassie Emperor of Ethiopia 1892 - 1975
Interview with Oriana Fallaci in The Chicago Tribune (24 June 1973).
Context: Democracy, republics: What do these words signify? What have they changed in the world? Have men become better, more loyal, kinder? Are the people happier? All goes on as before, as always. Illusions, illusions. Besides, one should consider the interest of a nation before subverting it with words. Democracy is necessary in some cases and We believe some African peoples might adopt it. But in other cases it is harmful, a mistake.
„God loves without limit and this puts a loving person most securely at peace.“
— John Ruysbroeck Flemish mystic 1293 - 1381
The Spiritual Espousals (c. 1340)
