Jonathan Powell Quotes

If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

You don't make peace with your friends. That's the bottom line. You end conflicts by trying to find some political resolution.

Intervention only works when the people concerned seem to be keen for peace.

Sharon is capable of making peace.

If you want peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

Making peace is harder than making war.

There is no such thing as a conflict that can’t be ended. Conflicts are started by human beings, sustained by human beings, and they can be ended by human beings.

There is no such thing as a conflict that cannot be ended.

According to the “ripeness theory,” every conflict reaches a point when the parties are tired of confrontation and determine it is in their interest to make peace. With practical steps, principled leadership, and encouragement from the international community, the peace process still represents a win-win for both sides.

A peace deal requires agreements, and you don't make agreements with your friends, you make agreements with your enemies.

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

Peace is a question of will. All conflicts can be settled, and there are no excuses for allowing them to become eternal.

The best way to solve problems and to fight against war is through dialogue.

You don't make peace with friends. You make it with very unsavory enemies.

I want to arrive at the possibility of peace with the Syrians, and when I believe that the conditions are right, I will not miss the opportunity.

If you want to bring an end to long-standing conflict, you have to be prepared to compromise.

My colleagues and I have gone in the footsteps of our predecessors since the very first day we were called by our people to care for their future. We went any place, we looked for any avenue, we made any effort to bring about negotiations between Israel and its neighbors, negotiations without which peace remains an abstract desire.

Making peace, I have found, is much harder than making war.

I believe that it is my responsibility as the prime minister of Israel to do whatever can be done to exploit the unique opportunities that lie ahead of us to move towards peace. Not everything can be done by one act.

Peace is not wimpy. It's about sitting down and negotiating with people you hate. Ultimately, all occupation ends, and you have to deal with the enemy.

Peace is not the absence of conflict. It is the ability to cope with conflict by peaceful means.

The alternative is not war or doing nothing. Whoever rejects war is not doomed to appeasement.

Leaders alone can rarely make peace. They have to bring people along.

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.

I have to fight as if there were no negotiations and negotiate as if there was no war.