I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader, Civil Rights Leader, Philosopher, Author
If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
—Moshe Dayan (1915–81) Israeli Soldier, Statesman
Make peace with man and war with your sins.
—Russian Proverb
A woman’s clothes are the price her husband pays for peace.
—African Proverb
Better to have bread and an onion with peace than stuffed fowl with strife.
—Arabic Proverb
‘He insulted me, he cheated me, he beat me, he robbed me’—those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.
—Buddhist Teaching
I am not one of those who believe that a great army is the means of maintaining peace, because if you build up a great profession those who form parts of it want to exercise their profession.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
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 (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
Peace and tranquility are a thousand gold pieces.
—Chinese Proverb
Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
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
Love is not getting, but giving. Not a wild dream of pleasure and madness of desire – oh, no – love is not that! It is goodness and honor and peace and pure living – yes, love is that and it is the best thing in the world and the thing that lives the longest.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) American Author, Educator, Clergyman
They will hammer their swords into plowblades
and their spears into pruning shears.
Nations will never fight against each other,
and they will never train for war again.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
There is a price which is too great to pay for peace, and that price can be put in one word. One cannot pay the price of self-respect.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
Fill you mind with the meaningless stimuli of a world preoccupied with meaningless things, and it will not be easy to feel peace in your heart.
—Marianne Williamson (b.1952) American Activist, Author, Lecturer
Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading.
—Indian Proverb
Violence as a way of achieving justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Moments of kindness and reconciliation are worth having, even if the parting has to come sooner or later.
—Alice Munro (b.1931) Canadian Short-Story Writer, Novelist
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 (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Harmony is one phase of the law whose spiritual expression is love.
—James Lane Allen (1849–1925) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
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
Never has there been a good war or a bad peace
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
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
Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
We have heard much of the phrase, “peace and friendship.” This phrase, in expressing the aspiration of America, is not complete. We should say instead, “peace and friendship, in freedom.” This, I think, is America’s real message to the rest of the world.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
Acceptance of others, their looks, their behaviors, their beliefs, brings you an inner peace and tranquillity instead of anger and resentment.
—Anonymous
Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared.
—Henri Nouwen (1932–96) Dutch Catholic Theologian, Writer
If man does find the solution for world peace it will be the most revolutionary reversal of his record we have ever known.
—George Marshall (1880–1959) American Military Leader
When you begin your transcendental training, focusing your best efforts, without attachment to outcomes, you will understand the peaceful warrior’s way.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
I feel within me a peace above all earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The man who consecrates his hours by vigorous effort, and an honest aim, at once he draws the sting of life and Death; he walks with nature; and her paths are peace.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air – explode softly – and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth – boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn’t go cheap, either – not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination.
—Robert Fulghum (b.1937) American Unitarian Universalist Author, Essayist, Clergyman
War ends nothing.
—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
Eternal peace lasts until the next war.
—Russian Proverb
Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
The triumphs of peace have been in some proximity to war. Whilst the hand was still familiar with the sword-hilt, whilst the habits of the camp were still visible in the port and complexion of the gentleman, his intellectual power culminated; the compression and tension of these stern conditions is a training for the finest and softest arts, and can rarely be compensated in tranquil times, except by some analogous vigor drawn from occupations as hardy as war.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Maintain peace with men, war with their vices.
—Unknown
Everyday ask yourself the question, “Do I want to experience Peace of Mind or do I want to experience Conflict?”
—Gerald Jampolsky (b.1925) American Psychiatrist
The best way to end a war is not to begin it.
—Indian Proverb
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
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
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
Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Not peace at any price! Chains are worse than bayonets.
—Douglas William Jerrold (1803–57) English Writer, Dramatist, Wit
Take nothing, to say: I have it! For you can possess nothing, not even peace.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
I use the word inquiry as synonymous with The Work…Inquiry is a way to end confusion and to experience internal peace, even in a world of apparent chaos. Above all else, inquiry is about realizing that all the answers we ever need are always available inside us.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author