“We cannot have peace if we are only concerned with peace. War is not an accident. It is the logical outcome of a certain way of life. If we want to attack war, we have to attack that way of life.
Disarmament cannot be achieved nor can the problem of war be resolved without being accompanied by profound changes in the economic order and the structure of society.”

— A. J. Muste

As quoted in Our Generation Against Nuclear War (1983) by Dimitrios I. Roussopoulos.

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

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A. J. Muste 12

Christian pacifist and civil rights activist 1885–1967

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“From time immemorial, people have talked about peace without achieving it. Do we simply lack enough experience? Though we talk peace, we wage war. Sometimes we even wage war in the name of peace.. . . War may be too much a part of history to be eliminated—ever.”

Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor

As quoted in "Is World Peace on the Horizon?", in The Watchtower (15 April 1991)

“Declare it. Just the same way we declare war. That is how we will have peace… we just need to declare it.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

“It may be inappropriate to put it in this way, but the atomic bombs and the Soviet entry into the war are, in a sense, God's gifts. Now we can end the war without making it clear that we have to end the war because of the domestic situation. I have long been advocating the conclusion [of the war], not because I am afraid of the enemy's attacks or because of the atomic bombs or the Soviet participation in the war; The most important reason is my concern over the domestic situation.”

Mitsumasa Yonai (1880–1948) Prime Minister of Japan

Quoted in "A-bombs were 'God's gifts' to Japanese regime", Taipei Times (August 7, 2005).

“We can achieve much more in peace than we can ever achieve in these needless, unconstitutional, undeclared wars.”

Ron Paul (1935) American politician and physician

Republican debate in Des Moines, Iowa, August 5, 2007 http://www.cfr.org/publication/13981/republican_debate_transcript_iowa.html
2000s, 2006-2009

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

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

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1750s

“In the days and in the years that are to come we shall work for a just and honorable peace, a durable peace, as today we work and fight for total victory in war. We can and we will achieve such a peace.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) 32nd President of the United States

1940s, Fourth inaugural address (1945)

“Sometimes we try to justify this unsavory business on the cynical ground that by rationing out the means of violence we can somehow control the world’s violence. The fact is that we cannot have it both ways. Can we be both the world’s leading champion of peace and the world’s leading supplier of the weapons of war?”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

"A Community of the Free" address at the The Foreign Policy Association NY, NY (23 June 1976); this is often paraphrased: We cannot be both the world’s leading champion of peace and the world’s leading supplier of the weapons of war.
Pre-Presidency

“All my life I have been a pacifist. All my life I have hated war and loved peace. I have contributed to peace societies, written for peace, spoken for peace, paraded for peace. But today I seriously question whether our ways of seeking peace are not playing directly into the hands of those who love war and intend to pursue it.”

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

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
p. 33

“We sail onto a war which has no casualties, no wounded, no blood nor suffering. It is the only war which is a pleasure to participate in — the war for peace.”

Yitzhak Rabin (1922–1995) Israeli politician, statesman and general

Speech to the US Congress (26 July 1994)
Context: I, serial number 30743, Lieutenant General in reserves Yitzhak Rabin, a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces and in the army of peace, I, who have sent armies into fire and soldiers to their death, say today: We sail onto a war which has no casualties, no wounded, no blood nor suffering. It is the only war which is a pleasure to participate in — the war for peace.

“He thinks Goliath can end the war," Alek managed at last. "The man wants peace!"

"As do we all," Count Volger said. "But there are many ways to end a war. Some are more peaceful than others.”

Scott Westerfeld book Goliath

Source: Goliath

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A. J. Muste 12

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