Petra Kelly Quotes

Today we are in a war against war - music is our power.

Don't stand back with your arms folded; step forward... There is hope and light to resist injustice and promote peace without violence.

Always, since our birth, we've insisted on another way of doing politics. Now, we had the chance to do it without arms, but without stopping being Zapatistas; that's why we keep the masks on.

Contrary to public understanding, Anarchism means 'peace on earth, good will to men'. Acts of violence done in the name of Anarchy are caused by men and women who forget to be philosophers - teachers of the people - because their physical and mental suffering drive them to desperation

The oppressed will make surer and faster progress if they eschew violence and depend, as they do mainly depend in their organizing and strike activities, on their solidarity, courage, capacity for suffering and sacrifice, and on non-cooperation where injustice becomes extreme

Not one of us will have to raise a sword. Not one gun would we need to fire. The great cannon that will be fired is our unity.

Truth and non-violence are not cloistered virtues but applicable as much in the forum and the legislatures as in the market place.

Non-cooperation is directed not against men but against measures. It is not directed against the Governors, but against the system they administer. The roots of non-cooperation lies not in hatred but in justice if not in love.

Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King are great examples of fantastic nonviolents who died violently. I can never work that out. We're pacifists, but I'm not sure what it means when you're such a pacifist that you get shot. I can never understand that.

The vision I see is not only a movement of direct democracy, of self- and co-determination and non-violence, but a movement in which politics means the power to love and the power to feel united on the spaceship Earth.

Non-co-operation intended to pave the way to real honourable and voluntary co-operation based on mutual respect and trust.

It is my conviction that there is no way to peace - peace is the way.

By its existence, the Peace Movement denies that governments know best; it stands for a different order of priorities: the human race comes first.

Gandhi was only minding his own business when he took a walk to get some salt and ended up overthrowing the British Empire. You can't set out to overthrow an empire, but if you have to get some salt then get some salt. If you have to write some independent songs that are honest, just write them. If you have to do a day job stacking shelves, so be it.

If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable.

The anti-war movement should turn itself into a pro-democracy movement

Gandhi once declared that it was his wife who unwittingly taught him the effectiveness of nonviolence. Who better than women should know that battles can be won without resort to physical strength? Who better than we should know all the power that resides in noncooperation?

As they used to say 'What if they gave a war and nobody came?' How worthwhile if they declared a day of peace and everybody came.

What we need is a generation of peace.

For a nonviolent struggle, there is no age limit. The blind, the maimed and the bed-ridden may serve, and not only men but women also.

I will not by the noise of bloody wars and the dethroning of kings advance you to glory: but by the gentle ways of peace and love.

The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.

Nonviolent action, born of the awareness of suffering and nurtured by love, is the most effective way to confront adversity.

Non-co-operation is a nation's determination to improve.

Non-violence is very weak in the theoretical sense; it cannot defend itself. But it is most powerful in the action situation where people are using non-violence because they want desperately to bring about some change. Non-violence in action is a very potent force and it can't be stopped. The people who are struggling have the complete say-so. No man-made law, no human ruler, no army can destroy this. There is no way it can be destroyed... And so, if we have the capacity to endure, if we have the patience, things will change.