We can never obtain peace in the world if we neglect the inner world and don’t make peace with ourselves. World peace must develop out of inner peace.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader, Civil Rights Leader, Philosopher, Author
One sword keeps another in the sheath.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
The man who has gotten everything he wants is all in favor of peace and order.
—Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian Head of State
The journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step. So we must never neglect any work of peace within our reach, however small.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
When we can’t find peace in ourselves it is vain to look for it elsewhere.
—Common Proverb
You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist.
—Indira Gandhi (1917–84) Indian Head of State
Better to have bread and an onion with peace than stuffed fowl with strife.
—Arabic Proverb
Peace, in international affairs, is a period of cheating between two periods of fighting.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
Peace is the well from which the stream of joy runs.
—Scottish Proverb
Mental violence has no potency and injures only the person whose thoughts are violent. It is otherwise with mental non-violence. It has potency which the world does not yet know.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
You will give yourself peace of mind if you perform every act of your life as if it were you last.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Other people do not have to change for us to experience peace of mind.
—Gerald Jampolsky (b.1925) American Psychiatrist
Harmony is one phase of the law whose spiritual expression is love.
—James Lane Allen (1849–1925) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Silence gives rise to peace and with peace comes security.
—African Proverb
I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
War grows out of the desire of the individual to gain advantage at the expense of his fellow men.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
Peace is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it.
—Thomas Merton (1915–68) American Trappist Monk
I would rather have peace in the world than be President.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
There is no shadow of protection to be had by sheltering behind the slender stockades of visionary speculation, or by hiding behind the wagon-wheels of pacific theories.
—Soong Mei-ling (1898–2003) First Lady of the Republic of China
Without war there can be no peace.
—African Proverb
Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
—Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) American Christian Theologian
I learned that as long as I had anything in my heart or head I still felt necessary to hide, it would not work. I had to come to peace with everything.
—Marlo Morgan (1937–98) American Novelist, Author
A man with too much ambition cannot sleep in peace.
—African Proverb
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 its errors, its successes and its setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned.
—Dag Hammarskjold (1905–61) Swedish Statesman, UN Diplomat
Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can … As a peace-maker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
If a man would live in peace, he should be blind, deaf, and dumb.
—Persian Proverb
Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
So long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private citizens will occasionally kill theirs.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
God is a peaceful ground of being. He is the energy of nonviolence. To ask Him to help is to ask Him to turn us into profoundly peaceful people.
—Marianne Williamson (b.1952) American Activist, Author, Lecturer