Peace can mean inner peace or civil peace. Peace is the absence of violence or war, and even the absence of uncomfortable disturbances. Peace implies a calmness or tranquility, so peace goes beyond a mere absence of active violence and war; tranquility requires a stable system that is fair and just to all, or living a life that is in harmony with others and the wider world. Peace also carries a connotation of unity and lawfulness. Here are some of the comments of the world’s thinkers on the subject of peace.
If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
For peace of mind, resign as general manager of the Universe.
Science is the search for truth — it is not a game in which one tries to beat his opponent, to do harm to others. We need to have the spirit of science in international affairs, to make the conduct of international affairs the effort to find t he right solution, the just solution of international problems, not the effort by each nation to get the better of other nations, to do harm to them when it is possible.
There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community.
When you make peace with yourself, you make peace with the world.
We have the ability to achieve, if we master the necessary goodwill, a common global society blessed with a shared culture of peace that is nourished by the ethnic, national and local diversities that enrich our lives.
If we want to reap the harvest of peace and justice in the future, we will have to sow the seeds of nonviolence, here and now, in the present.
I speak not for myself but for those without voice… those who have fought for their rights… their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated.
You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.
You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.
Peace is liberty in tranquility.
Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.
[W]e are not going to deal with the violence in our communities, our homes, and our nation, until we learn to deal with the basic ethic of how we resolve our disputes and to place an emphasis on peace in the way we relate to one another.
[W]e are not going to deal with the violence in our communities, our homes, and our nation, until we learn to deal with the basic ethic of how we resolve our disputes and to place an emphasis on peace in the way we relate to one another.
Peace by persuasion has a pleasant sound, but I think we should not be able to work it. We should have to tame the human race first, and history seems to show that that cannot be done.
True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.
One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.
Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.
I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.
There is something strangely inconsistent about a nation and a press that would praise you when you say, ‘Be nonviolent toward Jim Clark,’ but will curse and damn you when you say, ‘Be nonviolent toward little brown Vietnamese children.’ There is something wrong with that press.
If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties . . . must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Non-cooperation is a measure of discipline and sacrifice, and it demands respect for the opposite views.
I first learned the concepts of non-violence in my marriage.
If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed — but hate these things in yourself, not in another.
Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.
Namaste. I honour the place in you where the entire universe resides … a place of light, of love, of truth, of peace, of wisdom. I honour the place in you where when you are in that place and I am in that place there is only one of us.
Peace is an invitation to breathe deep, right here, in the uncertainty.
If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.
I believe that when PEACE becomes the goal, then Peace is unattainable. I believe that when we as a people…can be sure of where we stand and what we believe in, and we have the courage of our convictions, then PEACE will come as a byproduct of our effort.
Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.
Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace–but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! [March 23, 1775]
One little person, giving all of her time to peace, makes news. Many people, giving some of their time, can make history.
We who work for peace must not falter. We must continue to pray for peace and to act for peace in whatever way we can, we must continue to speak for peace and to live the way of peace; to inspire others, we must continue to think of peace and to know that peace is possible.
Cultivating moment-to-moment curiosity, we find that peace dawns on us.
We know that peace is only possible when it is the fruit of justice. True peace is the result of the profound transformation affected by nonviolence which is, indeed, the power of love.
There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life — happiness, freedom, and peace of mind — are always attained by giving them to someone else.
Either war is obsolete or men are.
The whole of planet Earth is a sacred site. All people are the chosen people, and the purpose of our lives is a spiritual one. May we care for each other, and for the earth, for everything relates to everything else.
Feeling this oneness, may we radiate the light of love and kindness that all may live in unity and peace.
There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.
The real and lasting victories are those of peace and not of war.
A political victory, a rise in rents, the recovery of your sick, or return of your absent friend, or some other quite external event, raises your spirits, and you think good days are preparing for you. Do not believe it. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.
Sometimes we receive the power to say yes to life. Then peace enters us and makes us whole.
Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.
Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.
People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within.
When people talk about war I vow with all beings to raise my voice in the chorus and speak of original peace.
A key to developing the capacity for inner awareness is the ability to differentiate felt energy in the body from thought, stories or interpretations. This ability to differentiate brings a more open, free inner space so we can more readily feel our authentic experience.
