We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.

Anton Chekhov (1860 - 1904), 1897

We make war that we may live in peace.

Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC), Nichomachean Ethics¹

For peace is not mere² absence of war, but is a virtue³ that springs from the force of character.

Baruch Spinoza (1632 - 1677), Tractatus Politicus

Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition⁴ for benevolence⁵, confidence, justice.

Baruch Spinoza (1632 - 1677)

At present the peace of the world has been preserved, not by statesmen, but by capitalists.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881), Letter to Mrs. Sarah Brydges Willyams, October 17, 1863

Peace has never come from dropping bombs. Real peace comes from enlightenment and educating people to behave more in a divine manner.

Carlos Santana, Associated Press interview, September 1, 2004

The name of peace is sweet, and the thing itself is beneficial, but there is a great difference between peace and servitude. Peace is freedom in tranquillity⁶, servitude is the worst of all evils, to be resisted not only by war, but even by death.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 - 1969)

Yes, God and the politicians willing, the United States can declare peace upon the world, and win it.

Ely Culbertson, Must We Fight Russia, chapter 5, 1946

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

Flavius Vegetius Renatus (~375 AD), De Rei Militari

If man does find the solution for world peace it will be the most revolutionary reversal of his record we have ever known.

George C. Marshall (1880 - 1959)

To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

George Washington (1732 - 1799)

Has not peace honours and glories of her own unattended by the dangers of war?

Hermocrates of Syracuse

Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity⁷ of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting⁸ peace can come only to peaceful people.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 - 1964)

The only alternative to coexistence is codestruction.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 - 1964)

Peace can be a cover whereby evil men can perpetrate diabolical⁹ wrongs.

John Foster Dulles

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.

Malcolm X (1925 - 1965), Malcolm X Speaks, 1965

If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

Moshe Dayan (1915 - 1981)

If you want peace, stop fighting. If you want peace of mind, stop fighting with your thoughts.

Peter McWilliams, Life 101, 1991

Every day we do things, we are things that have to do with peace. If we are aware of our life..., our way of looking at things, we will know how to make peace right in the moment, we are alive.

Thich Nhat Hanh

First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.

Thomas a Kempis (1380 - 1471), 1420

Peace with all nations, and the right which that gives us with respect to all nations, are our object.

Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), Letter to Mr. Dumas, March 24, 1793

That peace, safety, and concord¹⁰ may be the portion of our native land, and be long enjoyed by our fellow-citizens, is the most ardent¹¹ wish of my heart, and if I can be instrumental in procuring¹² or preserving them, I shall think I have not lived in vain.

Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), letter to Benjamin Waring and others, March 23, 1801

One cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one's soul.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965), The Painted Veil, 1925

Tao. Some of us look for the Way in opium¹³ and some in God, some of us in whiskey and some in love. It is all the same Way and it leads nowhither.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965), The Painted Veil, 1925

Peace is an unstable¹⁴ equilibrium¹⁵, which can be preserved only by acknowledged supremacy¹⁶ or equal power.

Will Durant and Arial Durant, The Lessons of History, Chapter 11, 1968

The peace of heaven is theirs that lift their swords, in such a just and charitable war.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Only a peace between equals can last. Only a peace the very principle of which is equality and a common participation¹⁷ in a common benefit.

Woodrow Wilson (1856 - 1924), Address to the United States Senate, January 22, 1917