John Greenleaf Whittier Quotes

My soul, there is a country Far beyond the stars Where stands a wingèd sentry All skillful in the wars: There, above noise and danger, Sweet Peace is crowned with smiles, And One born in a manger Commands the beauteous files.

Mankind has grown strong in eternal struggles and it will only perish through eternal peace.

In mid-wood silence, thus, how sweet to be; Where all the noises, that on peace intrude, Come from the chittering cricket, bird, and bee, Whose songs have charms to sweeten solitude.

Let war yield to peace, laurels to paeans.

A star is beautiful; it affords pleasure, not from what it is to do, or to give, but simply by being what it is. It befits the heavens; it has congruity with the mighty space in which it dwells. It has repose; no force disturbs its eternal peace. It has freedom; no obstruction lies between it and infinity.

Men who have worked together to reach the stars are not likely to descend together into the depths of war and desolation.

Our understanding of how to live with one another is still far behind our knowledge of how to destroy one another.

We say peace and the echo comes back from the other side, war. We dont want wars even when we win.

A generation that hates war will not bring peace. A generation that loves peace will bring peace.

We cannot have peace on Earth until we learn to speak with one voice. That voice must be the voice of reason, the voice of compassion, the voice of love. It is the voice of divinity within us.

I thought that a man can be an enemy of other men, of the moments of other men, but not of a country: not of fireflies, words, gardens, streams of water, sunsets.

"Peace" is a condition in which no civilian pays any attention to military casualties which do not achieve page-one, lead-story prominence-unless that civilian is a close relative of one of the casualties. But, if there ever was a time in history when "peace" meant that there was no fighting going on, I have been unable to find out about it.

Enough of blood and tears. Enough!

How sweet is the assurance, how comforting is the peace that come from the knowledge that if we marry right and live right, our relationship will continue, notwithstanding the certainty of death and the passage of time. Men may write love songs and sing them. They may yearn and hope and dream. But all of this will be only a romantic longing unless there is an exercise of authority that transcends the powers of time and death.

It seems to me that there are two great enemies of peace - fear and selfishness.

I wish heroes didn't exist. Whenever we need a hero, it's because there's a problem that needs to be solved; it's because two groups of people, or two countries, are hurting one another, so a hero is needed to save us. If everyone were at peace, if everyone were happy, why would we need heroes? The world is better off without heroes.

Peace is not just the absence of war. Like a cathedral, peace must be constructed patiently and with unshakable faith.

Peace is far more preferable to war. [...] I believe that peace is the only path to true security. [...] And there is no question that the only path to peace is through negotiations .

Peace?' said Vetinari. 'Ah, yes, defined as period of time to allow for preparation for the next war.

If we do not want to die together in war, we must learn to live together in peace.

Peace consists, very largely, in the fact of desiring it with all one's soul. The inhabitants of my small country, Costa Rica, have realized those words by Erasmus. Mine is an unarmed people, whose children have never seen a fighter or a tank or a warship.

The real choice we have to make is between peace and nationalism.

They say they seek security and quiet, the condition they call peace. Even as they speak they create the seeds of turmoil and violence.

Tell me, sweet eyes, from what divinest star did ye drink in your liquid melancholy?