Miroslav Lajcak Quotes

Preventing a war is tantamount to winning a war.

There never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword.

Peacemaking and peacekeeping should run in parallel.

We have to develop preventive diplomacy.

I have done all I can to prevent wars. All my life I've been dedicated to preventing just what has happened today.

The international community spends much more time and resources managing crises than preventing them. But TV cameras are seldom there when a conflict is avoided, so it is difficult for governments and international organizations to make prevention a priority.

You want to prevent war, you talk, talk, but you also have to back it up with actions.

I wish to pay attention to what we can do better to prevent conflict. Because by avoiding conflict, we save human lives, and we also save money.

I see this as the central issue of our time: how to find a substitute for war in human ingenuity, imagination, courage, sacrifice, patience... War is not inevitable, however persistent it is, however long a history it has in human affairs. It does not come out of some instinctive human need. It is manufactured by political leaders, who then must make a tremendous effort--by enticement, by propaganda, by coercion--to mobilize a normally reluctant population to go to war.

Now, it's high time for all those that have an influence on the parties with the conflict to understand that it is in the interest of everybody to put an end to this conflict. But this kind of persuasion, this kind of intense pressure, I believe it's my duty to do, even if I recognize that the contradictions and the different perceptions of interest that exist are making it very difficult.

The Peacekeepers had a tradition that every problem had a solution. It was a nice slogan. Wasn't true, but it sounded good.

I consider even a victorious war as an evil, from which statesmanship must endeavor to spare nations.

Peace will not be preserved by pious sentiments.

I don't want to force the peacekeeping nations to feel like I'm pushing them out.

We advised them to do what they think proper against the war.

I'm a mediator by training and inclination.

Every government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck.

My actions to promote peace, the mediation missions which I carried out during many conflicts, which very often occurred between brothers of the same country, are not driven by any ulterior motives or any calculations based on personal ambitions.

On the other hand, the waging of peace as a science, as an art, is in its infancy. But we can trace its growth, its steady progress, and the time will come when there will be particular individuals designated to assume responsibility for and leadership of this movement.

Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.

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

It might be useful to be able to predict war. But tension does not necessarily lead to war, but often to peace and to denouement.

We should seek by all means in our power to avoid war, by analysing possible causes, by trying to remove them, by discussion in a spirit of collaboration and good will.

I labored hard to avoid trouble and bloodshed.

For ultimately, the only way to win wars, is to prevent them occurring in the first place.