Lady Victoria Eclectic Pagan's blog: "PEACE"

PEACE TAKES WORK Making peace, I have found, is much harder than making war. ~ Gerry Adams "Peace is not a matter of prizes or trophies. It is not the product of a victory or command. It has no finishing line, no final deadline, no fixed definition of achievement." ~ Oscar Arias Sanchez Peace is a never-ending process, the work of many decisions by many people in many countries. It is an attitude, a way of life, a way of solving problems and resolving conflicts. It cannot be forced on the smallest nation or enforced by the largest. It cannot ignore our differences or overlook our common interests. It requires us to work and live together. ~ Oscar Arias Sanchez It would be naïve to think that peace and justice can be achieved easily. No set of rules or study of history will automatically resolve the problems … However; with faith and perseverance … complex problems in the past have been resolved in our search for justice and peace. ~ Jimmy Carter It is easier to make war than to make peace. ~ George Clemenceau Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius ~ and a lot of courage ~ to move in the opposite direction. ~ Albert Einstein Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved through understanding. ~ Albert Einstein We have thought of peace as the passive and war as the active way of living. The opposite is true. War is not the most strenuous life. It is a kind of rest-cure compared to the task of reconciling our differences. ~ M. P. Follett Even peace may be purchased at too high a price. ~ Benjamin Franklin "The making of peace is a continuing process that must go on from day to day, from year to year, so long as our civilization shall last." ~ J. William Fulbright It is easier to lead men to combat and to stir up their passions than to temper them and urge them to the patient labors of peace. ~Andre Gide The pursuit of peace and progress cannot end in a few years in either victory or defeat. The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and errors, its successes and setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned. ~Dag Hammarskjold The pursuit of peace resembles the building of a great cathedral. It is the work of a generation. In concept it requires a mater-architect; in execution, the labors of many. ~ Hubert Humphrey "Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time." ~ Lyndon B Johnson "Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures." ~John F. Kennedy Pacifism simply is not a matter of calm looking on; it is work, hard work. ~ Kathe Kollwitz Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience. ~ Thomas Merton The struggle to maintain peace is immeasurably more difficult than any military operation. ~ Anne O'Hare McCormick We seem always ready to pay the price for war. Almost gladly we give our time and our treasures - our limbs and even our lives - for war. But we expect to get peace for nothing. ~ Peace Pilgrim The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. ~ Hyman G. Rickover "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, like charity, begins at home." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous. ~ George Bernard Shaw In our innermost Spirit - we nourish the gentleness and understanding of Peace. Those around us feel a gentle breeze whispering as if rustling leaves - Peace comes not from contemplation- but action! ~ Pauline Tangiora

Better World Heroes

I'm not a pacifist. I'm not that brave. ~ Phil Donahue There are astonishing stories of heroism not only in preventing bloodshed, but in building understanding which lasts. ~ Scilla Elworthy Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Peace hath higher tests of manhood Than battle ever knew ~ John Greenleaf Whittier We have war because we are not sufficiently heroic for a life which does not need war. ~ Bartolomeo Vanzeiti