Prayer of Peace in the Spirit of Taizé

Peace Quotes

"If you want peace, work for justice." —Pope Paul VI

"The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war." —Douglas MacArthur

"Peace is more than just the absence of war. True peace is justice, true peace is freedom. And true peace dictates the recognition of human rights." —Ronald Reagan

"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures." —John F. Kennedy

"One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means." —Martin Luther King, Jr.

"It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it." —Eleanor Roosevelt

"Peace is every step."—Thich Nhat Hanh

"One can not reflect in streaming water. Only those who know internal peace can give it to others." —Lao Tzu

"If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another." —Tenzin Gyatso, The XIVth Dalai Lama

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."—Matthew 5:38-48 (cf. Luke 6:27-36)

"Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away." —Robert Fulghum

"Peace, if it is to endure, must be a life-long endeavor of those who would achieve it. It is the endless cultivation and nourishment of seeds sown in children, nurtured through adolescence, lovingly tended in fruitful adulthood." —Lora G. Koomanoff

"If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace." —Thich Nhat Hanh

"All works of love are works of peace." —Mother Theresa

"Peace is the work of justice indirectly, in so far as justice removes the obstacles to peace; but it is the work of charity (love) directly, since charity, according to its very notion, causes peace." —Thomas Aquinas

"The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us." —Black Elk

"Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free."—Tenzin Gyatso, The XIVth Dalai Lama

"El respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz." ("Peace is the respect for the rights of others.") —Benito Juarez

"But peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings." —John F. Kennedy

"If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities, there must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors, there must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart." —Lao Tzu

"Patriotism is a love for everything to do with our native land: its history, its traditions, its language, its natural features.... The cultural and historical identity of any society is preserved and nourished by all that is contained within this concept of a nation.
   "Whereas nationalism involves recognizing and pursuing the good of one's own nation alone, without regard for the rights of others. Patriotism, on the other hand, is a love for one's native land that accords rights to all other nations equal to those claimed for one's own. Patriotism, in other words, leads to a properly ordered social love." —Pope John Paul II

"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding." —Albert Einstein

"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. —C.S. Lewis

"If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another." —Tenzin Gyatso, The XIVth Dalai Lama

"We must be prepared to make heroic sacrifices for the cause of peace that we make ungrudgingly for the cause of war. There is no task that is more important or closer to my heart." —Albert Einstein

"Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth; Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust; Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace; Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe." —Upanishads, Satish Kumar

"First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others." —Thomas Kempis

"The pursuit of peace resembles the building of a great cathedral. It is the work of a generation. In concept it requires a master-architect; in execution, the labors of many." —Hubert H. Humphrey

"Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict - alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence." —Dorothy Thompson

"Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means." —Ronald Reagan

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice." —Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Let us not be justices of the peace, but angels of peace." —Therese of Lisieux