Each person can
help build a culture
of peace and
non-violence by
living in each
moment, joyfully
and thankfully in
deep consciousness
of the sacredness
of our own lives, the
lives of all beings,
and creation.
--Mairead Corrigan Maguire
Nobel Peace Laureate 1976
Social worker, Northern Ireland

The culture of peace
is rooted in respect
for law; in a spirit of
mutual respect,
goodwill and
toleration; and in the
acceptance that real
Peace cannot be
achieved by threat
or force.
--Frederick Willem de Klerk
Nobel Peace Laureate 1993
South African political leader

Concern about the
future cannot be
regarded as
willingness to forget.
Forgetting should
never be thought of
as a passport to
social peace.
Memory is part of
civil peace.
--Bronislaw Geremek
Polish historian and politician

I was chained as you
were chained. I was
freed, and you have
been freed. So if I can
pardon my
oppressors, you can
too.
--Nelson Mandela
Former President of South Africa

We live in a world
where a man is more
likely to be tried if he
kills a single person
than if he kills
100,000.
--Kofi Annan,
Ghanian diplomat, Secretary General of the UN

Peace is not the
absence of war, it is
a virtue, a state of
mind, a disposition
for benevolence,
confidence, justice.
--Baruch Spinoza,
Dutch Philosopher

If you want peace,
strive for justice.
--Pope Paul VI

Blood can no longer
be shed. Mothers
watching television
will not tolerate
seeing their sons'
blood being spilled in
front of their very
eyes. The civilian
population will no
longer be content
with a diplomatic
peace. The culture of
peace is an economic
and intellectual
dialogue between
peoples. War claims
a dreadful price.
Peace can bear fruit.
Fruit is a better
choice than tears.
--Shimon Peres,
Nobel Peace Laureate 1994,
Israeli political leader

Peace is not just
absence of war, and
non-violence is not
just the absence of
violence.
Non-violence and
peace are very much
dependent on the
practice of active
compassion.
Violence and non-
violence cannot be
distinguished from
external factors
alone. The real test
of compassion is our
correct motivation
and how we conduct
ourselves in daily life
and not what we
merely say or do
physically.
--The Dalai Lama,
Nobel Peace Laureate 1989, religious leader

What is true of
individuals is true of
nations. One cannot
forgive too much.
The weak can never
forgive. Forgiveness
is the attribute of the
strong.
--Mahatma Gandhi,
Indian philosopher and Politician

If you want peace,
strive for justice.
--Pope Paul VI

How can we talk
about a culture of
peace, if that peace
is predicated on the
existence of weapons
of mass destruction?
How can we
persuade the young
generations that they
should cast aside the
culture of violence,
when they know that
we are relying for
peace on a balance
of terror? If we
genuinely want to
develop the culture
of peace in the new
millennium, we will
have to get rid of
nuclear weapons.
--Joseph Rotblat,
Nobel Peace Laureate, 1995,
British physicist

One day, when the
weather is bad,
A ray of sunshine will
Light the grey clouds.
On that day,
everyone alive on our
planet
Will join to form a
ring crossing the
oceans.
This ring will be so
big that everyone
will rejoice,
Be they black, yellow
or white, big or
small,
From Asia, Africa or
America.
They will know the
eternal meaning of
peace.
If only this dream
Would come true...
--Matthew Pras, schoolboy Lyon, France
Reprinted from UNESCO Courier