Peace Quotes

We have won all our wars, but we have paid for them. We don’t want victories any more.

Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Berlin wall section

We accepted armistice lines because we wanted peace. We lived with those boundaries and hardly knew a day of peace. The fedayeen began then, Al Fatah today. It makes no difference. Burning and looting and killing people. In 1956, there was another war, and we…

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Remember the quiet wonders. The world has more need of them than it has for warriors.

Monday, June 14th, 2010
old growth forest

Mal’ek’a came from across the Great Water, did he not?

He did. Do what you must do, the raven replied. Farewell, my son. I will look for you again when you seek peace, not war. Turning, the Forest Lord stepped in amongst the…

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Peace will not be built by people with bitterness in their hearts

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
a candle in the darkness

Neither my husband nor I brought on this war. It was brought on by many things beyond the control of any individual. We hope with all our hearts that the citizens of the world will learn from past mistakes and that together we may build…

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An iron curtain has descended across the Continent

Friday, March 5th, 2010

We understand the Russian need to be secure on her western frontiers by the removal of all possibility of German aggression. We welcome Russia to her rightful place among the leading nations of the world. We welcome her flag upon the seas. Above all, we welcome constant, frequent and growing contacts between the Russian people [...]

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A common enemy is an excellent argument for mutual peace

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
fault line

“And we have a common purpose here, too. If we were going to find out anything which will help Renfry, it will be in just such a collection as this.”

“It’d take a year just to shuffle though the top layer in this…”

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It IS enough to be benign, to be gentle, to be funny, to be kind

Thursday, February 4th, 2010
duck looking at water

A few thoughts about being “benign,” with a little help from a Stephen Fry quote.

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Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle.

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
Norman Anderson on Racing Bicycle, 1914

She is logical and tolerant, most trustful of a world that has treated her kindly.

Once when some one asked her to define “love,” she replied, “Why, bless you, that is easy; it is what everybody feels for everybody else.”

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Peace equals public health

Sunday, November 29th, 2009
spinach

Stark longed for a time when the key cooperative principle of one person, one vote wasn’t considered radical. Democracy was messy and complex, but it was exactly what this paranoid country needed. “You have to overcome that thinking if my plan is going to work…”

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Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes

Saturday, November 28th, 2009
young face

If you don’t like yourself, you can’t like other people…

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If we are to invoke the moral imagination, we must incite and excite the artist within us

Friday, November 6th, 2009
mathematical curves

If the moral imagination lies within us as a dormant seed of potential, and this seed holds the key to breaking cycles of destructive conflict, then our challenge is how to invoke the growth of this kind of imagination as an integral part of developing innovative professionals. Much of…

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I am the grass; I cover all.

Sunday, June 7th, 2009
grassy hillside

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo,
Shovel them under and let me work–
I am the grass; I cover all.

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Human nature is essentially compassionate, gentle

Friday, April 3rd, 2009
peaceful lake

“If our essential nature is kind and compassionate,” I asked, “I’m just wondering how you account for all the conflicts and aggressive behaviors that are all around us.”

The Dalia Lama nodded thoughtfully for a moment before replying, “Of course we can’t ignore the fact that conflicts and…”

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