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.
Interpretation
Peace must be actively pursued and nurtured through strong values and actions.
This quote emphasizes that peace is not a passive state that can be obtained without effort; it requires active engagement and the cultivation of various virtues such as faith, strength, and justice. Dorothy Thompson suggests that achieving a lasting peace relies on a proactive approach, involving imagination and steadfast principles, rather than simply waiting for peace to occur or accepting the status quo.
In practice
In a speech on international relations, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of active diplomacy.
Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow.
When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered.
It is not the fact of liberty but the way in which liberty is exercised that ultimately determines whether liberty itself survives.
Age is not measured by years. Nature does not equally distribute energy. Some people are born old and tired while others are going strong at seventy.
Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.
The teachings of many faiths share much in common. And people of many faiths are united in our commitments to love our families, to protect our children, and to build a more peaceful world. In the coming year, let us resolve to seize opportunities to work together in a spirit of friendship and cooperation. Through our combined efforts, we can end terrorism and rid our civilization of the damaging effects of hatred and intolerance, ultimately achieving a brighter future for all.
Too often, U.N. peacekeepers face an impossible task in countries that are still at war and where there is no real peace to keep.
Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences.
I make a forceful and urgent call to the entire Catholic Church, and also to every Christian of other confessions, as well as to followers of every religion and to those brothers and sisters who do not believe: peace is a good which overcomes every barrier, because it belongs to all of humanity!
No price is too great to pay for inner peace. Peace is the harmonious control of life. It is vibrant with life-energy. It is a power that easily transcends all our worldly knowledge. Yet it is not separate from our earthly existence. If we open the right avenues within, this peace can be felt here and now.
A world free of nuclear weapons will be safer and more prosperous.
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