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Writings: Quotes

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“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal” – Dr Martin Luther King, Jr

“We plant seeds that will flower as results in our lives, so best to remove the weeds of anger, avarice, envy and doubt, that peace and abundance may manifest for all” - Dorothy Day

“We must be the change we wish to see” - Mohandas K Gandhi

“Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace” - Buddha

“Peace is a gift. It is a gift we give to ourselves. And then to each other” - Richard Goode

“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” - Oscar Arias

“Peace is that state in which fear of any kind is unknown” - John Buchan

“If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having” – Henry Miller

“Non-violence exacts a very high price from one who practices it. But once you are able to meet that demand then you can do most things” – Cesar Chavez

“Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak...Non-violence is hard work. It is the willingness to sacrifice. It is the patience to win” - Cesar Chavez

“If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work” - Thich Nhat Hanh

“Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me” - Seymour Miller & Jill Jackson

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind” - Mohandas K Gandhi

“I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it”  - Dwight Eisenhower

"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

"The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows" – Dr Martin Luther King, Jr

"This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love" - Peace Pilgrim

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

"The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend" - Abraham Lincoln

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

“We must be prepared to make heroic sacrifices for the cause of peace that we make ungrudgingly for the cause of war. There is no task that is more important or closer to my heart” - Albert Einstein

“There is nothing that war has ever achieved that we could not better achieve without it” - Havelock Ellis

“While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart” - St. Francis of Assisi

“Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being” – Mohandas K Gandhi

“A peace that comes from fear and not from the heart is the opposite of peace.” - Gersonides

“The first essential characteristics of nonviolent action is that it is creative” - Hildegarde Goss-Mayr

“The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war” - Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

“Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace” - Thich Nhat Hanh

“A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror” - Ken Keyes, Jr

“Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him” – DrMartin Luther King, Jr.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” - Matthew 5:3

“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

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

“Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely an absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people” - Jawaharlal Nehru

“Only when there are many people who are pools of peace, silence, understanding, will war disappear” - Osho

“When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others” - Peace Pilgrim

“For 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

“Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace” - Albert Schweitzer

“World peace is us...We are each walking agents of the vision of peace we carry inside us” - Kathleen Vande Kieft

"We are not victims of the world we see; we are victims of the way we see the world." - Dennis Kucinich

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who are hungry and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.” - Dwight Eisenhower

“There never was a good war or a bad peace.” - Benjamin Franklin

“I have known war as few men now living know it.  Its very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes.” - General Douglas MacArthur

“War is only a cowardly escape from the problem of peace. “ - Thomas Mann

“When we see God in each other we will be able to live in peace.” – Mother Teresa

“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy...Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Our nation will become truly great only when we learn to love our children more than we yearn to control the Earth.  The world we risk with war is that of our children.” - Rafael J. González

"Terror is in the human heart. We must remove this from the heart. Destroying the human heart, both physically and psychologically, is what we should avoid. The root of terrorism is misunderstanding, hatred and violence. This root cannot be located by the military. Bombs and missiles cannot reach it, let alone destroy it.  Only with the practice of calming and looking deeply can our insight reveal and identify this root. Only with the practice of deep listening and compassion can it be transformed and removed.  Darkness cannot be dissipated with more darkness. More darkness will only make darkness thicker. Only light can dissipate darkness. Those of us who have the light should display the light and offer it so that the world will not sink into total darkness." - Thich Nhat Hanh

“Evil is the absence of love just as darkness is the absence of light. The way to dispel darkness is to shine light into it. The way to dispel evil is to "shine" love into it. If we change the perception that evil is something to be struggled against to a perception that it is merely the absence of love, it becomes our goal to respond to EVERYTHING with love. We can help put ourselves into that mindset by saying the words Only Love Prevails every time we perceive evil.” - Carol Hansen Grey

"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming." – Goethe

“World peace begins with inner peace. What is reflected on the outer is merely a mirror of what is on the inner. Trying to change the world without working to change consciousness is like trying to change the image in a mirror without changing the object that is being reflected. The physical environment and circumstances we experience are merely a reflection of our consciousness. Our consciousness is created by our thoughts - the true creative force. To change our consciousness we must transform all our limiting thoughts.” - Carol Hansen Grey

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.