Peace is among the highest values of humankind. What does peace mean to different thinkers? Can tranquility be defined and described? Happiness is an important value as well. What this all adds up to is a look at the best kind of life for persons to aspire to. Read on to find out how “the wise” view peace & tranquility by reading what they have said about the topics in their own words. Frankly, there are so many quotations on these subjects in The Wisdom Archive, that I will merely show a sampling of quotes and proverbs alphabetically from A-D.
“Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace.”
“There is no way to peace; peace is the way.”
“A musician must make his music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to ultimately be at peace with himself.”
“It is true that I came of age at a place and in a time when pacifism was a ruling principle, and it has become a part of my character. Perhaps it has gone deeper now that I am a mother and am therefore obliged to picture my own children as cannon fodder and Iraqi children as collateral damage.”
“If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day.”
“When we speak of peace, we must also speak of freedom.”
“To consider our petty status worries from the perspective of a thousand years hence is to be granted a rare, tranquillizing glimpse of our own insignificance.”
“I saw all the horrors of war. I participated in all the wars of Israel. In every battle I was in the hardest parts . . . I lost my best friends in battles and I was seriously injured twice. I felt all those terrible pains in the hospitals. I had to take decisions of life and death of others and of myself. Therefore, I believe that I understand the importance of peace better than the politicians who speak about peace but never had the experience that I had…I understand the importance of peace.”
“More and more I have come to value charity and love of one’s fellow being above all else.”
“There is an old Roman proverb that says, ‘If you would wish for peace then prepare for war.’ Rubbish! If you would wish for peace, then offer alternatives to war.”
“Peace comes within the souls of men when they realize their oneness with the universe.”
“Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice.”
“It is so slow that we see the beauty inherent in every tiny act that makes up a sweater. So slow that we know the project is not going to get finished today—it may not get finished for many months or longer—and that allows us to make our peace with the unresolved nature of life. We slow down as we knit.”
“American’s attitude toward war in general and this war in particular would change drastically if the censor’s veil were lifted and the public got a sustained, close look at the agonizing bloodshed and other horrors that continue unabated in Iraq. If that happened, support for any war that wasn’t an absolute necessity would plummet.”
“Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting.”
“The advocates of pacifism are well aware how meager are their resources of personal influence and power. They know that they are still few in number and weak in authority, but when they realistically consider themselves and the ideal they serve, they see themselves as the servants of the greatest of all causes.”
“There is much wisdom behind the moral principles upon which our society is built. Once you throw out principles and act purely on pragmatism, you are bound to miscalculate, due to self-serving bias and simple ignorance. In the long run, there is no trade-off between principles and pragmatism; the best way to peace and prosperity is to obey moral principles, such as the fairly straightforward, Thou shalt not kill.”
“Peace is constructed, not fought for.”
“Clinical studies suggest that meditating may help keep the body in good working order. Doctors increasingly recommend it to patients as a way to cope with a range of conditions: migraines, heart disease, AIDS, cancer, infertility, high blood pressure, irritable bowel syndrome, even depression. A five-year study in the United States found that people who practice transcendental meditation are 56% less likely to be hospitalized.”
“All we wanted was peace and to be left alone.”
“If peace is what every government says it seeks, and peace is the yearning of every heart, why aren’t we studying it and teaching it in schools?”
“Awareness, contentment, freedom, and love are aspects of the primal, underlying state of mind— a state which simply is. Unhappiness is a disturbance of that state, a disruptive modulation of it. Unhappiness is a wanting, judging, condemning, rejecting, emotionally charged reaction to information that is present in the mind.”
“The great benefit of slowing down is reclaiming the time and tranquility to make meaningful connections—with people, with culture, with work, with nature, with our own bodies and minds. Some call that living better. Others would describe it as spiritual.”
“Peace is a verb. It’s active, and it involves the choices we make everyday.”
“In the United States, to argue that economic justice is achievable is to brand oneself either naïve and unrealistic or, until very recently, a [Communist]. Nevertheless, a committed minority of U.S. leaders, poor people, and people of conscience have risked articulating a vision of a nation without poverty.
“Benjamin Franklin was among the first to envision a world devoted to rest and relaxation. Inspired by the technological breakthroughs of the latter 1700s, he predicted that man would soon work no more than four hours a week.”
More quotations about peace, tranquility, happiness, contentment, meaning, morality, and joy can be found, for free of course, in The Wisdom Archive, the place where you find quotations about values and virtues.
Below is a podcast about living in this admirable and amazing way with two remarkable women and committed persons of value, Louise Diamond and Dee Aker.
