Thomas Merton Quotes

Society has arisen out of the works of peace; the essence of society is peacemaking. Peace and not war is the father of all things.

This is the unusual thing about nonviolence -- nobody is defeated, everybody shares in the victory.

Where's the point in fighting and slaying if you can make a friend out of anybeast instead of a foe?

Unless we learn the lesson of nonviolence fully, we shall never do away with the deadly feuds which have been the curse of the Frontier people.

Convince an enemy, convince him that he's wrong. To win a bloodless battle, the victory is long. A simple act of faith, reason over might. To blow up his children would only prove him right.

The method of nonviolence seeks not to humiliate and not to defeat the oppressor, but it seeks to win his friendship and his understanding. And thereby and therefore the aftermath of this method is reconciliation.

Peace is the language we must speak.

War is not the answer. Violence is not the solution. A more peaceful world is possible.

Everybody wants peace. That's a truism. There is no point in accomplishing through war what you can accomplish through peace.

I would prefer things to be peaceful and not have conflict.

The way to disarm is to disarm....

Wars aren't stopped by fighting wars, any more than you can fight fire with fire. You fight fire with water. You fight violence with nonviolence.

Peace is never a perfect achievement.

I don't have much time for real violence at all. I think there are infinitely better ways of changing the world than using violence. Sitting round a table talking is a pretty good start.

You'll get more from being a peacemaker than a warrior.

Peace has to be created, in order to be maintained. It is the product of Faith, Strength, Energy, Will, Sympathy, Justice, Imagination, and the triumph of principle. It will never be achieved by passivity and quietism.

The world will continue to change dramatically, but fighting and war can destroy us utterly. What we need now are techniques of harmony, not those of contention. The Art of Peace is required, not the Art of War.

Peace is the alternative to war, and nonviolence should be seen as the antidote to violence, not simply as its opposite. Nonviolence is more concerned with saving life than with saving face.

I have been apt to think that there has never been, nor ever will be, any such thing as a good war, or a bad peace.

Peace is not simply the absence of warfare.

We must pursue peaceful end through peaceful means.

I must say that "Give Peace a Chance" has always seemed to me to be sensible advice.

It is not only war that can stop war but men of goodwill, conscious of their mission can deal with such deadly enemy.

Anger and hatred cannot bring harmony. The noble task of arms control and disarmament cannot be accomplished by confrontation and condemnation. Hostile attitudes only serve to heat up the situation, whereas a true sense of respect gradually cools down what otherwise could become explosive. We must recognize the frequent contradictions between short-term benefit and long-term harm.

There is no time left for anything but to make peace work a dimension of our every waking activity.