A PHYSICS of PEACE
Each of us can set in motion ripples of hope that confront flawed, failed rationales for war.
We too can join to form a physics of peace.______________________________
Each of us can work to change a small portion of events and in the total of those acts will be written the history of this generation. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other form a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
- Robert Kennedy
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We shall find peace. We shall hear angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.
-Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright
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Peace comes within the souls of men when they realize their oneness with the universe.
-Black Elk, Oglala Sioux spiritual leader
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When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
-Jimi Hendrix, American musician and songwriter
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No more wars, no more bloodshed. Peace unto you. Shalom, salaam, forever.
-Menachem Begin, Former prime minister of Israel
and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize_______________________
INNER PEACE
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-Tsu, Chinese Philosopher, 6th Century BC
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The Art of Peace is medicine for a sick world. There is evil and disorder in the world because people have forgotten that all things emanate from one source. Return to that source and leave behind all self-centered thoughts, petty desires, and anger. Those who are possessed by nothing possess everything.
-Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial arts expert and founder of Aikido
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PROACTIVE PEACE
Compassion and love are not mere luxuries. As the source of both inner and external peace, they are fundamental to the continued survival of our species.
-The Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhist spiritual, temporal leader
and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize_______________________
Shall I tell you what acts are better than fasting, charity and prayers?
Making peace between enemies are such acts; For enmity and malice tear up the heavenly rewards by the roots.-Prayer from the Islamic tradition
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Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism.
Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty.-Oscar Romero, Martyred Archbishop of El Salvador
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PEACE & JUSTICE
Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.
-Preamble, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.
-Mahatma Gandhi, Indian leader and peace activist
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I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture of their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.
-Martin Luther King, Jr., American clergyman, civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner
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OBSTACLES TO PEACE
Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush; anxious for greater developments and greater wishes and so on; so that children have very little time for their parents; parents have very little time for each other; and the home begins the disruption of the peace of the world.
-Mother Teresa, Albanian Christian missionary in India
and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize_______________________
And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race that can understand.
-George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright and essayist
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Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.
-Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States
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PEACEFUL SOLUTIONS
I am not here as a public official, but as a citizen of a troubled world who finds hope in a growing consensus that the generally accepted goals of society are peace, freedom, human rights, environmental quality, the alleviation of suffering and the rule of law.
-James Earl Carter, 39th president of the United States
and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize_______________________
We who know the art of prayer can change the vibration and magnetic psyche of the Earth. We can transform the wave of destruction into an ocean of peace through our prayer and through our meditation.
-Yogi Bhajan, Global leader in both the Sikh and interfaith
communities and a master of Kundalini Yoga_______________________
Living out a witness to peace has to do with everyday choices about the work we do, the relationships we build, what part we take in politics, what we buy, how we raise our children. It is a matter of fostering relationships and structures — from personal to international — which are strong and healthy enough to contain conflict when it arises and allow its creative resolution.
-Mary Lou Leavitt, American Quaker writer and peace advocate
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The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.
-Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States
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To love another person is to see the face of God.
-Victor Hugo, French writer
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