Wislawa Szymborska Quotes

The thing that really gets to me is that countries are in the news only when things get out of hand. That's when it's newsworthy. When the war ends, it's not newsworthy anymore; no one wants to think about it. Actually, the aftermath is the most important part. It's when people have to rebuild.

Winning the peace is harder than winning the war.

The only people that can make peace are the parties to the conflict, and just as they are responsible for the conflict and its consequences, so should they be given responsibility and recognition for the peace.

The concept of military readiness is well understood, but readiness for what happens after the fighting stops is just as important.

Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

It's not just the war itself. It's what you do after the war and what structure you put in place and how you make that structure work.

I picked up the phone and called Herbert Hainer, the CEO of Adidas, and said, 'Well, it's Peace Day coming up. I think it's about time after 60 years to end this feud. How about doing something together?'

All the aftermath that so frequently follows in the wake of war still confront the nation, and we now, as ever before, must hold fast to the ancient landmarks and see to it that all of these plagues that threaten so mightily shall be rendered harmless.

A war is only as good as the peace that follows.

This may not be a just peace, but it is more just than the continuation of war.

Americans have learned that it is harder to end wars than it is to begin them

If one seeks to analyze experiences and reactions to the first postwar years, I hope one may say without being accused of bias that it is easier for the victor than for the vanquished to advocate peace.

When a nation has just emerged from the throes of a great civil warfare, where section was arrayed against section, class against class, two things are to be done: First, the work of reconstruction is to be effected; Secondly, a willingness for the proper acceptance of the issue's decision is to be created.

Waging war we understand, but not waging peace, or at any rate less consciously so.

I think the day you start building the war plan is the day you start beginning the postwar plan.

The problem after a war is the victor. He thinks he has just proved that war and violence will pay. Who will now teach him a lesson?

Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.

Half of all civil wars are post conflict relapses.

We’re not going to need as many people to do peacekeeping as we needed to fight the war.

A war is not won if the defeated enemy has not been turned into a friend.

My calling was first of all to ensure there was peace in the country, because we could easily have gone back to war. In the midst of the country, there were still warlords; there were many child soldiers who had never gone to school - they were part of the social setting - compromises had to be made.

Repetition is hell. How can we get out of those cycles of violence? How come we are still today talking about peace in Israel? How come we're not able to find a solution yet? Something that will bring peace in this part of the world? It's the same in a lot of places in the world right now. How come we are not able to find peace?

When I was growing up reading history books as a young student, it seemed all wars had a winner. Yet in today's wars, it is increasingly clear that no one wins. Everyone loses.

In every family, people fight, don't talk and then make amends.

We know that the end of any conflict is always messy. It's never a linear path when you've been at war for almost 20 years. It's never a clean, straight linear path to the end.