The Dove, on silver pinions, winged her peaceful way.

—James Montgomery

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Blue thou art, intensely blue; Flower, whence came thy dazzling hue?

—James Montgomery

More quotations tagged with “peace”

I have a friend who has devoted most of his adult life to resisting the madness of war through actions of justice and peace. He… lives in poverty so as to stay below the taxation level.… The money he "should" have given the government over the years he has donated to peace-and-justice projects. Does he have any results to show for his efforts? Has he been effective? Hardly—at least, not by the normal calculus. His years of commitment to peacemaking have been years of steady increase in wars and rumors of wars. So how does he stay healthy and sane? How does he maintain a commitment to this sort of active life? "I have never asked myself if I was being effective," he says, "but only if I was being faithful." He judges his action not by the results it gets, but by its fidelity to his own calling and identity.

—Parker J. Palmer

justice war peace identity poverty government faith calling

Betty Williams, a 1977 Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Northern Ireland, once witnessed the bombing death of Irish children, and a little girl died in Williams's arms. The girl's legs had been severed in the explosion and thrown across the street from where the woman held the bleeding child. Williams went home in shock and despair. Later, the full impact of what she'd seen jolted her awake. She stepped outside, screaming out in the middle of the night. She knocked on doors that might easily have opened with weapons pointed at her face and cried, "What kind of people have we become that we would allow children to be killed on our streets?" Within four hours the city was awake and there were sixteen thousand names on petitions for peace.

peace weapons children bombs death shock despair

If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war.

—Pentagon official on why the U.S. military censored graphic footage from the Gulf War

war politics peace violence

The insight that peace is the end of war, and that therefore a war is the preparation for peace, is at least as old as Aristotle, and the pretense that the aim of an armament race is to guard the peace is even older—namely, as old as the discovery of propaganda lies.

—Hannah Arendt

war peace lies propaganda

Another plan I have is World Peace through Formal Introductions. The idea is that everyone in the world would be required to meet everyone else in the world, formally, at least once. You'd have to look the person in the eye, shake hands, repeat their name, and try to remember one outstanding physical characteristic. My theory is, if you knew everyone in the world personally, you'd be less inclined to fight them in a war: "Who? The Malaysians? Are you kidding? I know those people!

—George Carlin

peace violence intimacy familiarity meeting

History

18 Mar 2015 Added