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Peace

1999

Reclaiming large areas of peace in ourselves

Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it toward others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.”

1940

Human beings are like that

I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white, we all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another."

sept. 1984

The Century of peace?

The Twenty-first Century shall be peaceful, or it shall not be.

August 2007

From humiliation to peace

Of all that threatens peace in our world, one of the strongest weapons of destruction is humiliation. It causes great pain and a sense of alienation and marginalisation. It crushes people's dignity and leads to despair. Persistent humiliation and injustice drives individuals, militant groups and nations to respond with violence, to kill and mutilate.

2009-11-27

The peace ability

Peace is a never-ending process

Peace is not the product of a victory or a command. It has no finishing line, no final deadline, no fixed definition of achievement. Peace is a never-ending process, the work of many decisions.

1960

The need for peace shining through millions of solitary individuals

Great ideas, it has been said, come into the world as gently as doves. Perhaps then, if we listen attentively, we shall hear amid the uproar of empires and nations, a faint flutter of wings, a gentle stirring of life and hope. Some will say that this hope lies in a nation; others, in a man...

1988

The nature of peace

Peace is reverence for life.

Peace is the most precious possession of humanity.

Peace is more than the end of armed conflict.

Peace is a mode of behaviour.

sept. 1984

Peace is a right and a duty

Peace is a right of the human species, but it is also a duty...

sept. 1984

The constant challenge of peace

Peace is not the end of a conflict or an interlude between wars; it is a constantly renewed challenge. It must be our supreme objective.

sept. 1984

What peace requires

Peace is not merely a matter of noble sentiments. It requires, by its very nature, some measure of precise and diversified knowledge, both theoretical and practical...

2009-2010 (presumed given NGO foundation date)

How to powerfully counter war

The most powerful and lasting way to counter war and violence is to build a culture of peace. Peace is more than the absence of war. Peace means living together with, and even celebrating, our differences—be they cultural, religious, ethnic, racial or gender-based. Peace involves transforming society from the inside out, in our own lives and across borders.

31st March 1968 (Speech), 9th April 1968 (US Congressional Record)

We must learn to live as brothers or die as fools

Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood. But somehow, and in some way, we have got to do this. We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality."

31st March 1968 (Speech), 9th April 1968 (US Congressional Record)

Remaining Awake Through a triple Revolution

There can be no gainsaying of the fact that a great revolution is taking place in the world today. In a sense it is a triple revolution: that is, a technological revolution, with the impact of automation and cybernation; then there is a revolution in weaponry, with the emergence of atomic and nuclear weapons of warfare; then there is a human rights revolution, with the freedom explosion that is taking place all over the world." (...)

When best to start a peace association?

When we mention we started a peace association, people tell us it’s very timely. That always surprises us. We tell people we’re already 5000 years late…

Compassion required

You need to understand those who denigrate peace. They're under the impression it's a punishment...

Anonymous

There is not enough money for peace, and for good reason

There is always money to make war, never to live in peace.

Ministry of Peace?

The Ministry of Finance should be called Ministry of Poverty since the Ministry of War isn't called the Ministry of Peace.

Jacques Prévert, French poet, 1900-1977, Extrait d'Histoires, 1972

1938

Peace has arrived

Don't tell me peace has broken out!

Bertold Brecht, (1898-1956) German playwright and poet.
Source: "Mother Courage and her Children"

Law leads straight to war

We talk about peace as a result of law, and I find that highly entertaining; as soon as there is one speck of law somewhere on the earth, it's not peace, it's war. Law does not make peace, it makes war.

Charles Péguy, during the 2nd International Conference at The Hague, 1907.

So, when do we attack war ?

If we don’t attack war during times of peace, when will we have the right to attack it ?

Boris Vian, Open letter to Mr. Paul Faber, municipal counselor, 1955