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Quotes about war and peace

540 quotes from 231 people

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Our goal is not victory of might but the vindication of right — not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere and, we hope, around the world.
John F. Kennedy1917–1963Cuban Missile Crisis speech
- Freedom
Now the trumpet summons us again — not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are — but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle.
John F. Kennedy1917–1963John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address (1961)
Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. And however undramatic the pursuit of peace, that pursuit must go on.
John F. Kennedy1917–1963Address to the UN General Assembly (20 September 1963)
The long labor of peace is an undertaking for every nation — and in this effort none of us can remain unaligned. To this goal none can be uncommitted.
John F. Kennedy1917–1963Address to the UN General Assembly (20 September 1963)
How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?
John Kerryborn 1943Testimony before subcommittees of the U.S. Senate, April, 1971
You can’t bomb for a humane reason. What we should do is just Mother Teresa them to death with love. It’s that old hippie nonsense but it’s still the best stuff there is.
KKKen Kesey1935–2001Trip of a Lifetime (1999)
- Love
Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968Beverly Hills California, (February 25, 1967); as quoted in “Martin Luther King Jr. On the Vietnam War”, The Atlantic.
Gandhi was inevitable. If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived, thought and acted, inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward a world of peace and harmony. We may ignore Gandhi at our own risk.
Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968
True pacifism is not unrealistic submission to an evil power…it is rather a courageous confrontation with evil by the power of love, in the faith that it is better to be the recipient of violence than the inflicter of it, since the latter only multiplies the existence of violence and bitterness in the universe, while the former may develop a sense of shame in the opponent, and thereby bring about a transformation and change of heart.
Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968This passage contains some phrases King later used in “Where Do We Go From Here?” (1967) which has a section below.
True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.
Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968In a 1955 response to an accusation that he was “disturbing the peace” by his activism during the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, as quoted in Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr (1982) by Stephen B. Oates
- Justice
But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem; it merely creates new and more complicated ones.
Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968Three Ways of Meeting Oppression (1958)
We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody that is far superior to the discords of war.
Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968The Quest for Peace and Justice (1964)
When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968“Beyond Vietnam”, Riverside Church, New York (4 April 1967)
- Money
- Race
Four things greater than all things are,⁠—
Women and Horses and Power and War.
Rudyard Kipling1865–1936Other works
- Women