WE WANT PEACE ON EARTH

Peace, peace is what I seek and public calm, Endless extinction of unhappy hates.
-- Matthew Arnold

Peace be with you.
-- The Bible: Genesis XLIII. 23

Give peace in our time, O Lord.
-- The Book of Common Prayer

Then all that has divided us will merge
And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind
And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong
And then no person will be subject to another's will
And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many
And then all will share equally in the earth's abundance
And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old
And then all will nourish the young
And then all will cherish life's creatures
And then all will live in harmony with each other and with the earth
And everywhere will be called Eden, once again.
-- Judy Chicago

What all men are really after is some form, or perhaps only some formula, of peace.
-- Joseph Conrad

"In the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

By its existence, the Peace Movement denies that governments know best; it stands for a different order of priorities: the human race comes first.
-- Martha Gellhorn

There has always been a longing in the human heart for a more just, free, loving and creative society. But it was never before possible to fulfill these aspirations, because we had neither the evolutionary drivers and global crises to force us to change, nor did we have the scientific and technological powers that can free us from the limitations of scarcity, poverty, disease, and ignorance. This is the time of awakening for the social potential movement. -- Barbara Marx Hubbard

The goal toward which all history tends is peace, not peace through the medium of war, not peace through a process of universal intimidation, not peace through a program of mutual impoverishment, not peace by any means that leaves the world too weak or too frightened to go on fighting, but peace pure and simple based on that will to peace which has animated the overwhelming majority of mankind through countless ages. This will to peace does not arise out of a cowardly desire to preserve one's life and property, but out of conviction that the fullest development of the highest powers of men can be achieved only in a world of peace. -- Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

The thing I would like to do most is to find somehow to bring peace to the world. It has eluded me.
-- Lyndon Baines Johnson

I do not want the peace which passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace. -- Helen Keller

So we must fix our vision not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but upon the positive affirmation of peace. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Somehow we must transform the dynamics of the world power struggle from the negative nuclear arms race which no one can win to a positive contest to harness man's creative genius for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all of the nations of the world.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

We must shift the arms race into a 'peace race'.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

What I am about is a more peaceful, harmonious, and just planet.
-- Brian Klemmer

All we are saying is give peace a chance... -- John Lennon And so this is Xmas for black and for white, for yellow and red, let's stop all the fight. -- John Lennon

Dream of a society at peace with its conscience because it respects and lives in harmony with all life forms.
-- John Robbins (b. 1914-)

In the hearts of people today there is a deep longing for peace. When the true spirit of peace is thoroughly dominant, it becomes an inner experience with unlimited possibilities. Only when this really happens-- when the spirit of peace awakens and takes possession of men's hearts, can humanity be saved from perishing. -- Albert Schweitzer

Ah, when shall all men's good
Be each man's rule, and universal peace
Lie like a shaft of light across the land,
And like a lane of beams athwart the sea,
Thro' all the circle of the golden year?
-- Alfred Tennyson (The Golden Year)

Ring out old shapes of foul disease, Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace.
-- Alfred Tennyson

Our goal must not be peace in our time but peace for all time.
-- Harry S. Truman

I would rather have peace in the world than be President.
-- Harry S. Truman

We Must Want Peace to have Peace

Peace consists, very largely, in the fact of desiring it with all one's soul. The inhabitants of my small country, Costa Rica, have realized those words by Erasmus. Mine is an unarmed people, whose children have never seen a fighter or a tank or a warship." -- Oscar Arias Sanchez

Because we want the peace with half a heart and half a life and will, the war, of course, continues, because the waging of war, by its nature, is total - but the waging of peace, by our own cowardice, is partial. -- Daniel Berrigan

"One of the most persistent ambiguities that we face is that everybody talks about peace as a goal. However, it does not take sharpest-eyed sophistication to discern that while everbody talks about peace, peace has become practically nobody's business among the power-wielders. Many men cry Peace! Peace! but they refuse to do the things that make for peace." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"It is not enough to say 'We must not wage war.' It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it … We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody that is far superior to the discord of war." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

They have not wanted Peace at all; they have wanted to be spared war - as though the absence of war was the same as peace.
-- Dorothy Thompson

WHAT IS PEACE?

"I believe that peace is not merely an absence of war but the nurture of human life, and that in time this nurture would do away with war as a natural process." -- Jane Addams

Peace is the beauty of life. It is sunshine. It is the smile of a child, the love of a mother, the joy of a father, the togetherness of a family. It is the advancement of man, the victory of a just cause, the triumph of truth. Peace is all of these and more and more. -- Menachem Begin

Peace is freedom in tranquility.
-- Cicero

What is peace? Is it war? No. Is it strife? No. Is it lovely, and gentle, and beautiful, and pleasant, and serene, and joyful? O yes!
-- Charles Dickens (Bleak House)

Peace, it's wonderful
-- Father Divine (George Baker)

 

Today, peace means the ascent from simple coexistence to cooperation and common creativity among countries and nations. -- Mikhail Gorbachev Ideally, peace means the absence of violence. It is an ethical value. -- Mikhail Gorbachev

Peace is more than just absence of war. It is rather a state in which no people of any country, in fact no group of people of any kind live in fear or in need. -- Poul Hartling

"Peace is the absence of war, but beyond that peace is a commodity unlike any other. Peace is security. Peace is a mindset. Peace is a way of living. Peace is the capacity to transcend past hurts -- to break cycles of violence and forge new pathways that say, “I would like to make sure we live as a community where there is justice, security, and development for all members.” At the end of the day, peace is an investment; it is something you create by investing in a way of life and monitoring where your resources go."
-- Noeleen Heyzer

 

"The mere absence of war is not peace." -- John F. Kennedy --John F. Kennedy

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Peace is neither the absence of war nor the presence of a disarmament agreement. Peace is a change of heart.
-- Richard Lamm (b. 1935)

There is no way to peace. Peace is the way. -- A.J. Muste

Peace is not a passive but an active condition, not a negation but an affirmation.
-- Mary Roberts Rinehart

 

"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." -- Oscar Romero

Peace is when time doesn't matter as it passes by.
-- Maria Schell

Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
-- Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677)

Peace is a virtual, mute, sustained victory of potential powers against probable greeds
-- Paul Valery

Peace is the harvest of love as war is the fruit of hate.
-- Joan Walsh

 

Most people think of peace as a state of Nothing Bad Happening, or Nothing Much Happening. Yet if peace is to overtake us and make ust he gift of serenity and well-being, it will have to be the state of Something Good Happening. -- E.B. White

Peace is always beautiful
-- Walt Whitman

 

Peace is our gift to each other. -- Elie Wiesel

OUR CHOICE: PEACE OR ELSE

Let us not deceive ourself: we must elect world peace or world destruction.
--Bernard Mannes Baruch

"If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another."
-- Winston Churchill

 

The only alternative to coesistence is codestruction -- Jawaharlal Nehru

Never have the nations of the world had so much to lose, or so much to gain. Together we shall save our planet, or together we shall perish in its flames. --John F. Kennedy Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind...War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. --John F. Kennedy

We still have a choice today: nonviolence coesistence or violent coannihilation. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

We have to face the fact that either all of us are going to die together or we are going to learn to live together and if we are to live together we have to talk. -- Eleanor Roosevelt

It is clear that the nations of the world now can only rise and fall together. It is not a question of one nation winning at the expense of another. We must all help one another or all perish together.
--Carl Sagan

Nonviolence, pacifism, that's the greatest thing that I think the human species has to aspire to, because otherwise it's not going to be around.
-- Martin Scorsese

 

"I love my country very much. But I must say I love people all over the world, and we better all start loving each other or we're going to blow each other to kingdom come." -- Ted Turner

Mankind needs peace more than ever, for our entire planet, threatened by nuclear war, is in danger of total destruction. A destruction only man can provoke, only man can prevent. -- Elie Wiesel

We Want Peace On Earth!!

The common people of all nations want peace. In the presence of great impersonal forces they feel individually helpless to promote it… common folk, not statesmen, nor generals, nor great men of affairs, but just simple plain men and women like the few thousand Quakers and their friends, if they devote themselves to resolute insistence on goodwill in place of force, even in the face of great disaster past or threatened, can do something to build a better, peaceful world. The future hope of peace lies with such personal sacrificial service. To this ideal humble persons everywhere may contribute.
-- Henry J. Cadbury

“I have no idea if world peace is attainable. But aiming for it is.”
-- Stockard Channing

 

“If you don’t like the way to the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time. -- Marian Wright Edelman

"I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"We can't do it by ourselves, but if enough of us do it, we change the cultural climate, and then the leaders follow." -- Riane Eisler

We must apply our humble efforts to the construction of a more just and humane world. And I want to declare emphatically: Such a world is possible. To create this new society, we must present outstretched and friendly hands, without hatred and rancor, even as we show great determination and never waver in the defense of truth and justice. Because we know that we cannot sow seeds with clenched fists. To sow we must open our hands. -- Adolfo Perez Esquivel

What greater cause and what more splendid adventure can be set before the youth of the world than the endeavor to bring into being that age-old dream of saints and sages - the great Commonwealth of the World as the visible embodiment of the brotherhood of man? -- Arthur Henderson

Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.-- Dolores Huerta

"Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one." -- John Lennon

"Every one of us can make a contribution. And quite often we are looking for the big things and forget that, wherever we are, we can make a contribution. Sometimes I tell myself, I may only be planting a tree here, but just imagine what's happening if there are billions of people out there doing something. Just imagine the power of what we can do." -- Wangari Maathai

The big powers are traveling on the dangerous road of armament. The signpost just ahead of us is 'Oblivion.' Can the march on this road be stopped? Yes, if public opinion uses the power it now has. -- Sean MacBride

"If we want to reap the harvest of peace and justice in the future, we will have to sow seeds of nonviolence, here and now, in the present." -- Mairead Corrigan Maguire

The value of our shared reward will and must be measured by the joyful peace which will triumph, because the common humanity that bonds both black and white into one human race, will have said to each one of us that we shall all live like the children of paradise. Thus shall we live, because we will have created a society which recognizes that all people are born equal, with each entitled in equal measure to life, liberty, prosperity, human rights and good governance. Such a society should never allow again that there should be prisoners of conscience nor that any person's human rights should be violated. -- Nelson Mandela

"I am trying to build a new world, and I believe I have an impact on that - -I believe every individual has an impact on that."
-- Susan Collin Marks

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

We are privileged to have the opportunity of contributing to the achievement of the goal of the abolition of war and its replacement by world law. I am confident that we shall succeed in this great task; that the world community will thereby be freed not only from the suffering caused by war but also through the better use of the earth's resources, of the discoveries of scientists, and of the efforts of mankind, from hunger, disease, illiteracy, and fear; and that we shall in the course of time be enabled to build a world characterized by economic, political, and social justice for all human beings and a culture worthy of man's intelligence. -- Linus Pauling

"One little person, giving all of her time to peace, makes news. Many people, giving some of their time, can make history." -- Peace Pilgrim

"Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person." -- Mother Teresa.

"We, the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal right of men and women and of nations large and small....And for these ends to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors...have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims."
-- Preamble, Charter of the United Nations.

PEACE TAKES WORK

Making peace, I have found, is much harder than making war.
-- Gerry Adams

 

"Peace is not a matter of prizes or trophies. It is not the product of a victory or command. It has no finishing line, no final deadline, no fixed definition of achievement." -- Oscar Arias Sanchez Peace is a never-ending process, the work of many decisions by many people in many countries. It is an attitude, a way of life, a way of solving problems and resolving conflicts. It cannot be forced on the smallest nation or enforced by the largest. It cannot ignore our differences or overlook our common interests. It requires us to work and live together. -- Oscar Arias Sanchez

It would be naïve to think that peace and justice can be achieved easily. No set of rules or study of history will automatically resolve the problems … However, with faith and perseverance, … complex problems in the past have been resolved in our search for justice and peace. -- Jimmy Carter

It is easier to make war than to make peace.
-- George Clemenceau

 

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction. -- Albert Einstein Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved through understanding. -- Albert Einstein

We have thought of peace as the passive and war as the active way of living. The opposite is true. War is not the most strenuous life. It is a kind of rest-cure compared to the task of reconciling our differences.
-- M. P. Follett

"The making of peace is a continuing process that must go on from day to day, from year to year, so long as our civilization shall last."
-- J. William Fulbright

It is easier to lead men to combat and to stir up their passions than to temper them and urge them to the patient labors of peace.
--Andre Gide

 

The pursuit of peace and progress cannot end in a few years in either victory or defeat. The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and errors, its successes and setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned. --Dag Hammarskjold

The pursuit of peace resembles the building of a great cathedral. It is the work of a generation. In concept it requires a mater-architect; in execution, the labors of many. -- Hubert Humphrey

"Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time."
-- Lyndon B Johnson

 

"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures." --John F. Kennedy

Pacifism simply is not a matter of calm looking on; it is work, hard work. -- Kathe Kollwitz

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

The struggle to maintain peace is immeasurably more difficult than any military operation.
-- Anne O'Hare McCormick

 

We seem always ready to pay the price for war. Almost gladly we give our time and our treasures - our limbs and even our lives - for war. But we expect to get peace for nothing. -- Peace Pilgrim

The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.
-- Hyman G. Rickover

 

"It isn't enough to talk about peace; one must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it; one must work at it." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Peace, like charity, begins at home." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous. -- George Bernard Shaw

PeaceOnEarth Heroes