Kenneth E. Boulding Quotes

In the East, the main object is to have a well-ordered society so that everybody can have maximum enjoyment of his freedoms. This freedom can only exist in an ordered state and not in a natural state of contention and anarchy.

Democracy cannot sustain itself amid a high degree of violence.

The laws would not prevent each man from living according to his inclination, unless individuals harmed each other; for envy creates the beginning of strife.

I don't think that there is a person that I've met - I'm sure there are - that I've had any conflict with.

Society has arisen out of the works of peace; the essence of society is peacemaking.

People get up, they go to work, they have their lives, but you'll never see the headlines say, 'Six billion people got along rather well today.' You'll have the headline about the 30 people who shot each other.

Sectarian divide has created a schism in our society that is a major challenge. As monarch of all Bahrainis, it pains me to see many harmed by the actions of a few. And yet I am optimistic and have faith in our people. We all realize that now is the time to strike a balance between stability and gradual reform.

For eons, humans have struggled to find less destructive ways of living together.

Bureaucracy and social harmony are inversely proportional to each other.

The individual and society have waged a relentless and bloody battle for ages, each striving for supremacy, because each was blind to the value and importance of the other.

It will give satisfaction to the people; and be a happy means, under providence, of preventing popular commotions, mobs, bloodshed and civil war.

Democracy is usually seen as a pacifying force that “draws the teeth” from conflict.

The spirit of commerce has a tendency to soften the manners of men and to extinguish those inflammable humors which have so often kindled into wars.

The good people of this world are very far from being satisfied with each other & my arms are the best peacemakers.

It's a neutralizing mantra to say to everybody, 'I come in peace.' I come in peace. That's why it's important.

On this International Day of Peace, let us dare to imagine a world free of conflict and violence

It's possible to fight intolerance, stupidity and fanaticism when they come separately. When you get all three together it's probably wiser to get out, if only to preserve your sanity.

[But if things continue the way they are] ...the society that I envision, if my dream is not just a false notion, this society will have to begin to create itself in the midst of fuss, noisiness and panic, and will have to face the prospects of both internal and external war.

Man is, perhaps, no more prone to war than he used to be and no more inclined to commit other evil deeds. But a given amount of ill will or folly will go further than it used to.

Discord is the great ill of mankind; and tolerance is the only remedy for it.

I am tired of a life of contention, and of being the personal object for the hatred of every man, who hates the present state of things.

If we live long enough, we may even get over war. I imagine a time when somebody will mention the word war and everyone in the room will start to laugh. And what do you mean war?

Violence brings only temporary victories; violence, by creating many more social problems than it solves, never brings permanent peace.

The ideally non-violent state will be an ordered anarchy.

All men desire peace, but very few desire those things that make for peace.