79 Quotes on Inner and Outer Peace

Peace starts within ... and eventually spreads like wildfire. Read these great quotes to inspire you to become more compassionate, loving, accepting and peaceful.

1. “Inner peace is beyond victory or defeat.” –Bhagavad Gita
2. “I learned that the interior of life was as rewarding as the exterior of life, and that my richest moments occurred when I was absolutely still.” –Richard Bode
3. “History has shown us that our tendency to colonize and exploit other regions has always backfired. This planet can be made a happier, more peaceful place to live in, but the change will have to come from within the hearts of all of us living here.” –Jagad Guru Chris Butler
4. “Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: you won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you.” –Ajahn Chah
5. “If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house. If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.” –Chinese proverb
6. “People say ‘I want peace.’ If you remove I (ego), and your want (desire), you are left with peace.” –Satya Sai Baba
7. “Spiritual energy brings compassion into the world.” –Christina Baldwin
8. “Peace starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share peace with neighboring communities, and so on. When we feel love and kindness towards others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.” –The 14th Dalai Lama
9. “Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.” –John F. Kennedy
10. “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” –Albert Einstein
11. “It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” –Robert F. Kennedy
12. “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” -Desmond Tutu
13. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
14. “Peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings.” –John F. Kennedy
15. “If there is a mystical chord in democracy, it probably revolves around the notion that unexpected music can resonate from politics when people are pursuing questions larger than self… I have seen that ennobling effect in people many, many times— expressed by those who found themselves engaged in genuine acts of democratic expression, who claimed their right to define the larger destiny of their community, their nations.” –William Greider
16. “The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.” –Elizabeth Cady Stanton
17. “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” –Pericles
18. “This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” –George Bernard Shaw
19. “I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war… But we have no more urgent task.” –John F. Kennedy
20. “War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.” –Thomas Jefferson
21. “If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another.” –Winston Churchill
22. “There is a higher court than courts of justice, and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.” –Mahatma Gandhi
23. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” –Margaret Mead
24. “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” –Nelson Mandela
25. “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” –Edith Wharton
26. “Anxiety is the illness of our age. We worry about ourselves, our family, our friends, our work, and our state of the world. If we allow worry to fill our hearts, sooner or later we will get sick.” –Thich Nhat Hanh
27. “Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.” –Nelson Mandela
28. “Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower
29. “Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political and economic change. … What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
30. “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” –Harriet Tubman
31. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” –Thomas Jefferson
32. “I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” –Thomas Jefferson
33. “As the War Office of the United States was established in a time of peace, it is equally reasonable that a Peace Office should be established in a time of War.” – Benjamin Rush, Founding Father
34. “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” –Mahatma Gandhi
35. “My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.” –George Washington
36. “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” –Victor Frankl
37. “Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that generation.” –Nelson Mandela
38. “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” –Mark Twain
39. “We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but on the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war. Somehow, we must transform the dynamics of the world power struggle from the negative nuclear arms race, which no one can win, to a positive contest to harness humanity’s creative genius for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all the nations of the world. In short, we must shift the arms race into a peace race. If we have a will – and determination – to mount such a peace offensive, we will unlock hitherto tightly sealed doors of hope and transform our imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative fulfillment.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
40. “Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all that they are.” –Hafsat Abiola
41. “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.” –Nelson Mandela
42. “If you want to end the war then instead of sending guns, send books. Instead of sending tanks, send pens. Instead of sending soldiers, send teachers.” –Malala Yousafzai
43. “To replace the old paradigm of war with a new paradigm of waging peace, we must be pioneers who can push the boundaries of human understanding. We must be doctors who can cure the virus of violence. We must be soldiers of peace who can do more than preach to the choir. And we must be artists who will make the world our masterpiece.” –Paul Chappell
44. “Peace does not mean an absence of conflicts; differences will always be there. Peace means solving these differences through peaceful means; through dialogue, education, knowledge; and through humane ways.” –The 14th Dalai Lama
45. “We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower
46. “Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
47. “Love is the vital essence that pervades and permeates, from the center to the circumference, the graduating circles of all thought and action. Love is the talisman of human weal and woe –the open sesame to every soul.” –Elizabeth Cady Stanton
48. “More than just an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars.” –Franklin D. Roosevelt (written the night before he died)
49. “To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness” –Robert Muller
50. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
51. “What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children… not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.” –John F. Kennedy
52. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.” –Maya Angelou
53. “The very first step in nonviolence is that we cultivate in our daily life, as between ourselves, truthfulness, humility, tolerance, loving kindness.” –Mahatma Gandhi
54. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
55. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
56. “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
57. “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
58. “Every thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace, should begin by looking inward—by examining his own attitude towards the possibilities of peace… First: Examine our attitude towards peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it is unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable— that mankind is doomed—that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are man-made. Therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man’s reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable—and we believe they can do it again.” –John F. Kennedy
59. “Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.” - Etty Hillesum
60. “Always do what you are afraid to do.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
61. “Don’t drink at the water’s edge, throw yourself in. Become the water. Only then will your thirst be quenched.” –Jeanette Berson
62. “The best weapon is to sit down and talk.” –Nelson Mandela
63. “Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.” –George Edward Woodberry
64. “We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
65. “Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
66. “Ever since happiness heard your name, it’s been running through the streets trying to find you.” –Hafiz
67. “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
68. “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” –John Muir
69. “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
70. “The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.” –Elizabeth Cady Stanton
71. “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” –Henri Nouwen
72. “When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?” –Eleanor Roosevelt
73. “Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
74. “To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.” –William Blake
75. “The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe.” –Joanna Macy
76. “We aren’t passengers on Spaceship Earth. We’re the crew. We aren’t residents on this planet. We’re citizens. The difference in both cases is responsibility.” –Rusty Schweickart
77. “Because the relationship between self and world is reciprocal, it is not a matter of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the Earth, the Earth heals us. No need to wait. As we care enough to take risks, we loosen the grip of ego and begin to come home to our true nature.” –Joanna Macy
78. “We are our world knowing itself. We can relinquish our separateness. We can come home again—and participate in our world in a richer, more responsible and poignantly beautiful way than before, in our infancy.” –Joanna Macy
79. “By peace we mean the capacity to transform conflicts with empathy, without violence, and creatively—a never-ending process.” –Johan Galtung