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Peace quotes

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“When there is no desire, all things are at peace.” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“Freedom without civility, freedom without the ability to live in peace, was not true freedom at all.” Nelson Mandela, “Long Walk to Freedom” - 1995

“My experience has shown me that we win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party.” Mahatma Gandhi, “The Story of my Experiments with Truth” - 1929

“Let every one have his own way, and we shall be always at peace.” Michel de Montaigne, “The Essays of Michel de Montaigne” - 1580

“A peace is of the nature of a conquest; for then both parties nobly are subdued, and neither party loser.” William Shakespeare, “Henry IV, Part 2” - 1600

“I am not religious, I reckon. But peace is my heart: I know it is.” William Faulkner, “As I Lay Dying” - 1930

“He in peace is wounded, not in war.” William Shakespeare, “The Rape of Lucrece” - 1594

“If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.” C. S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity” - 1952

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance” - 1841

“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.” Theodore Roosevelt, “Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography” - 1913

“But when he has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.” Plato, “The Republic”

“What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.” Confucius, “Analects”

“And do you know, there's less charm in life, when one thinks of death, but there's more peace.” Leo Tolstoy, “Anna Karenina” - 1877

“There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult—to begin a war, and to end it.” Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in America” - 1840

“So tell me the secret so I can take it back to Earth and save us all: How can a planet live at peace?” Kurt Vonnegut, “Slaughterhouse-Five” - 1969

“For the stability and peace of Asia, it is essential to create peace zones to separate the continent's biggest powers and potential adversaries.” 14th Dalai Lama, “Nobel Lecture” - 1989

“You’ll get more from being a peacemaker than a warrior.” Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story” - 2012

“I am at peace with God, my conflict is with man.” Charlie Chaplin, “My Autobiography” - 1964

“The mere absence of war is not peace.” John F. Kennedy, “State of the Union Address” - 14 January 1963

“For it can never be that Warre shall preserve life, and Peace destroy it.” Thomas Hobbes, “Leviathan” - 1651

“Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace.” Oscar Wilde, “The Canterville Ghost” - 1887

“Listen up—there's no war that will end all wars . . . War breeds war.” Haruki Murakami, “Kafka on the Shore” - 2002

“Is it not sufficient for your infernal selfishness, that while you are at peace I shall writhe in the torments of hell?” Emily Brontë, “Wuthering Heights” - 1847

“It is in changing that things find repose.” Heraclitus, “On Nature” - c. 535 – c. 475 BCE

“Immanuel Kant argued that perpetual peace would eventually come to the world in one of two ways: by human insight or by conflicts and catastrophes of a magnitude that left humanity no other choice.” Henry Kissinger, “On China” - 2011

“In God's name cheerly on, courageous friends, to reap the harvest of perpetual peace by this one bloody trial of sharp war.” William Shakespeare, “Richard III” - 1597

“Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.” William Shakespeare, “Henry IV, Part 2” - 1600

“The peace of the gardens and the kindly lights in the windows poured a tender influence into his restless heart.” James Joyce, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” - 1916

“I feel within me a peace above all earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience.” William Shakespeare, “Henry VIII” - 1623

“He gave his honours to the world again, his blessed part to heaven, and slept in peace.” William Shakespeare, “Henry VIII” - 1623

“Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace to silence envious tongues.” William Shakespeare, “Henry VIII” - 1623

“It must be very peaceful, he thought, to lie and slumber and dream forever and ever, with the wind whispering through the trees and caressing the grass and the flowers over the grave, and nothing to bother and grieve about, ever any more.” Mark Twain, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” - 1876

“If I preached unity, I must act like a unifier, even at the risk of perhaps alienating some of my own colleagues.” Nelson Mandela, “Long Walk to Freedom” - 1995

“Our strife pertains to ourselves—to the passing generations of men—and it can without convulsion be hushed forever with the passing of one generation.” Abraham Lincoln, “State of the Union Address” - 1 December 1862

“How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads, to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.” Bram Stoker, “Dracula” - 1897

“The warlike days are over. Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonourable peace, and the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told.” Bram Stoker, “Dracula” - 1897

“The man who can centre his thoughts and hopes upon something transcending self can find a certain peace in the ordinary troubles of life which is impossible to the pure egoist.” Bertrand Russell, “The Conquest of Happiness” - 1930

“Grace remits sin, and peace quiets the conscience. Sin and conscience torment us, but Christ has overcome these fiends now and forever.” Martin Luther, “Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians” - 1535

“We thought we would find favor with men for bringing them the Gospel of peace, life, and eternal salvation. Instead of favor, we found fury.” Martin Luther, “Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians” - 1535

“The war has made us a nation of great power and intelligence. We have but little to do to preserve peace, happiness and prosperity at home, and the respect of other nations. Our experience ought to teach us the necessity of the first; our power...” Ulysses S. Grant, “Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant” - 1885

“The moonlight lay everywhere with the natural peace that is granted to no other light.” Franz Kafka, “The Trial” - 1925

“Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.” Barack Obama, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 2009

“But our strategy for peace with freedom must also be based on strength—economic strength and military strength.” Ronald Reagan, “State of the Union Address” - 25 January 1983

“Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free. True peace with oneself and with the world around us can only be achieved through the development of mental peace.” 14th Dalai Lama, “Nobel Lecture” - 1989

“I would like to take this opportunity to explain the Zone of Ahimsa or peace sanctuary concept, which is the central element of the Five-Point Peace Plan. I am convinced that it is of great importance not only for Tibet, but for peace and...” 14th Dalai Lama, “Nobel Lecture” - 1989

“Many of the boys I saw in hospitals are now leading happy and useful lives, but they carry with them, day after day, the results of the war. If we do not achieve the ends for which they sacrificed—a peaceful world in which there exists freedom...” Eleanor Roosevelt, “The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt” - 1961

“Even in those cities which seem to enjoy peace, and where the arts flourish, the inhabitants are devoured by more envy, care, and uneasiness than are experienced by a besieged town.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.” Mao Zedong, “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung” - 1964

“Again, to make peace either in oneself or among others, shows a man to be a follower of God, Who is the God of unity and peace.” Thomas Aquinas, “Summa Theologica” - 1274

“The peace-loving nations must make a concerted effort in opposition to those violations of treaties and those ignorings of human instincts which today are creating a state of international anarchy and instability from which there is no escape...” Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Quarantine Speech” - 5 October 1937

Related topics

war freedom power life God justice democracy reciprocity wisdom death courage fear heart heaven nature people calm envy unity love

Related authors

William Shakespeare (8)
Woodrow Wilson (6)
14th Dalai Lama (3)
John F. Kennedy (3)
Nelson Mandela (2)
Bram Stoker (2)
Leo Tolstoy (2)
Martin Luther (2)
Ambrose Bierce (2)
Franklin D. Roosevelt (2)
Emily Brontë (2)
Thomas Hobbes (2)
Oscar Wilde (1)
William Faulkner (1)
James Joyce (1)
Mark Twain (1)
George R. R. Martin (1)
Heraclitus (1)
C. S. Lewis (1)
Abraham Lincoln (1)

Related sources

State of the Union Address (5)
Henry VIII (3)
Nobel Lecture (3)
A World League For Peace (3)
We Must Accept War (3)
Henry IV, Part 2 (2)
Long Walk to Freedom (2)
Dracula (2)
Anna Karenina (2)
Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (2)
The Devil's Dictionary (2)
Quarantine Speech (2)
Wuthering Heights (2)
Leviathan (2)
Romeo and Juliet (1)
Richard III (1)
As I Lay Dying (1)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1)
The Rape of Lucrece (1)