peace
     

Like a cathedral, peace must be constructed
patiently and with unshakable faith.

Pope John Paul II

  

As difficult as it can be to find genuine inner calm, it is the key to creating peace in the world as we know it.  The world will not change until we do, and there is nothing the world can deliver to us that will give us the peace we crave.  Peace comes not from the world, but from God.

Marianne Williamson

     

Serenity is not freedom from the storm but peace amid the storm.

Alcoholics Anonymous

   

Our most important task is to transform our consciousness so that violence is no longer an option for us in our personal lives, so that understanding that a world of peace is possible only if we relate to each other as peaceful beings, one individual at a time.

Deepak Chopra  
  
   
I do not want the peace which passeth understanding, I want the understanding which bringeth peace.

Helen Keller

   

When we're helping other people, we're nourishing our soul.  Depression or unhappiness means we've got the wrong goal.  We have forgotten that peace of mind is our only goal.  By concentrating on helping another person, we renew contact with our soul and with God.  We can feel peaceful again. . . . Peace of mind has nothing to do with the external world; it has only to do with our connection with God.  Love really is the answer.  We're here only to teach love.  When we're doing that, our souls are singing and dancing.  When we remind ourselves that we are spiritual beings, that life and love are the flame eternal, that's when our soul is nourished.

Gerald Jampolsky

    

The important thing to remember is that peace comes
from within your own heart and mind, not from
some outside source, and when you refuse
to be disturbed by things about you, life
will flood your being with dynamic energy.

unattributed

   

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Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions,
slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.
And however undramatic the pursuit of peace, the pursuit must go on.

John F. Kennedy

   

The world will never have lasting peace so long as we reserve
for war the finest human qualities.  Peace, no less than war,
requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith.

John Foster Dulles

    
If I could ask for any gift in the world for myself, it would be peace. If I could ask for any gift for everyone else in the world, it would be peace.

Peace of mind, peace of heart, peace in relationships, peace in every land.  If everyone in the world felt at peace with themselves, how much crime would we have?  How much anger and frustration and violence?  So many of the bad things in the world, even down to the person who makes fun of you or someone you know, are caused by a lack of peace, and it's hard to imagine what the world would be like if everyone felt peace.

I know that my perspective of the world has changed drastically since I've actually focused on making peace one of my highest priorities in my life.  I do my best to find small pockets of peace, and I do my best not to let situations or people take my peace away from me--if someone angers me, he or she has robbed me of the feeling of peacefulness that I strive to maintain in my life.

I can't do it always--I've never expected to, and I never expect to. I'm human, and I'm going to let my peace of mind slip away from time to time.  I'm going to worry about things like money and jobs and what's wrong with my car.  I'm going to feel inferior to some people, I'm going to feel that I don't belong in certain situations, I'm going to beat myself up over something stupid that I'm going to say tomorrow or next week or next month.  As I get better at maintaining peace, though, I'm not going to let things like that take my peace away. And I'm going to feel better because of it, and I'm going to be more effective at making others feel better, too.

One of the things that I always try to ask myself before I respond in situations in which I'm bound to overreact or react inappropriately is this:  Will my reaction contribute to the peace in the world, or will it contribute to the discontent and anger in the world?  Sometimes the answer makes me stop and not say what I meant to, and I always find that later, I'm much more at peace for not having said or done that something than I would have been had i said it or done it.

Do you want to give a gift to the world?  Contribute to the peace in the world, and help others feel one of the most important feelings they'll ever feel.  And don't forget to give it to yourself, too--you deserve it.  Peace be with you.

tom walsh
    

Peace does not dwell in outward things, but within the soul; we may preserve
it in the midst of the bitterest pain, if our will remains firm and submissive.  Peace
in this life springs from acquiescence to, not in an exemption from, suffering.

Francois de Fenelon

  

When you have found inner peace, you are in constant contact with the
source of universal energy and cannot be tired. . . You have endless energy.

Peace Pilgrim

    

   

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They are the happiest, be they kings or peasants,
who find peace in their homes.


Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
   

Work is not always required of a person.  There is such a thing as sacred
idleness, the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected.

George MacDonald

peace

Over all the mountaintops
Is peace.
In all treetops
You perceive
Scarcely a breath.
The little birds in the forest
Are silent.
Wait then; soon
You, too, will have peace.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

    

Peace is the first thing the angels sang.
Peace is the mark of the children of God.
Peace is the nurse of love.
Peace is the mother of unity.
Peace is the rest of the blessed souls.
Peace is the dwelling place of eternity.

Leo the Great

    

I think that people want peace so much that one of these days
governments had better get out of their way and let them have it.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

   

    

If we have no peace, it is because
we have forgotten that we belong to each other.


Mother Teresa

    

Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things,
we will not find peace.

Albert Schweitzer

   

Nothing can produce so great a serenity of life as a mind
free from guilt and kept untainted, not only from actions,
but purposes that are wicked.  By this means the soul will
be not only unpolluted but also undisturbed.  The fountain
will run clear and unsullied.

Plutarch

   

Peace is self-control at its widest—at the width where the “self”
has been lost, and interest has been transferred to coordinations
wider than personality.

Alfred North Whitehead

   

There is no way to peace.  Peace is the way.

A.J. Muste

   

    
The more we give up our hearts to God, to our vocations, and to others,
forgetful of ourselves and of that which belongs to us—the greater poise
we will acquire, until we reach peace, quiet, joy.

Alexander Yelchaninov
   

Patience is necessary in this life because so much of life is fraught
with adversity.  No matter how hard we try, our lives will never be without
strife and grief.  Thus, we should not strive for a peace that is without
temptation, or for a life that never feels adversity.  Peace is not found
by escaping temptations, but by being tried by them.  We will
have discovered peace when we have been tried and come
through the trial of temptation.

Thomas a Kempis

   

In your occupations, try to possess your soul in peace.
It is not a good plan to be in haste to perform any action
that it may be sooner over.  On the contrary, you should
accustom yourself to do whatever you have to do with
tranquility, in order that you may retain the possession
of yourself and of settled peace.

Madame Guyon

    
The peaceful people that I've known in life have been
those who have most affected me in positive ways.  I've
always admired the way they accept things that happen
without losing their peace of mind over them--if they
decide that something's bad, they simply resolve to do
something about it, and then they do that something.
Their peace doesn't leave them.

tom walsh
  

Peace is the happy, natural state of humans; war, our corruption, our disgrace.

James Thomson

   

   

Peace comes from living a measured life.  Peace comes from
attending to every part of my world in a sacramental way.
My relationships are not what I do when I have time left
over from my work. . . . Reading is not something I do
when life calms down.  Prayer is not something I do
when I feel like it.  They are all channels of hope
and growth for me.  They must all be given their due.

Joan D. Chittister

    
One of the basic points is kindness.  With kindness, with love and
compassion, with this feeling that is the essence of brotherhood,
sisterhood, one will have inner peace.  This compassionate
feeling is the basis of inner peace.


the Dalai Lama
   

Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we
do and see.  The question is whether or not we are in touch with it.  We
don't have to travel far away to enjoy the blue sky.  We don't have to
leave our city or even our neighborhood to enjoy the eyes of a beautiful
child.  Even the air we breathe can be a source of joy.

Thich Nhat Hanh

    

peace

We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather about us,
that they may see their own images, and so live for a moment with
a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life because of our quiet.

William Butler Yeats
   

When you are proclaiming peace with your lips,
be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.

Francis of Assisi

   

When you make peace with yourself,
you make peace with the world.

Maha Ghosananda

   
I have walked 25,000 miles as a penniless pilgrim.  I own only what I wear
and what I carry in my small pockets.  I belong to no organization.  I have
said that I will walk until given shelter and fast until given food, remaining a
wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace.  And I can truthfully
tell you that without ever asking for anything, I have been supplied with
everything needed for my journey, which shows you how good people really are.

With me I carry always my peace message:  This is the way of peace:  Overcome
evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.  There is nothing new
about this message, except the practice of it.  And the practice of it is required not
only in the international situation but also in the personal situation.  I believe that the
situation in the world is a reflection of our own immaturity.  If we were mature,
harmonious people, war would be no problem whatever--it would be impossible.

All of us can work for peace.  We can work right where we are, right within
ourselves, because the more peace we have within our own lives, the more we
can reflect into the outer situation.  In fact, I believe that the wish to survive
will push us into some kind of uneasy world peace which will then need to
be supported by a great inner awakening if it is to endure.

Peace Pilgrim
  

Riches bring anxiety; wisdom gives peace of mind.

Ibn Gabirol

   
   

Storms may rage on the surface of an ocean, but deep below, the waters
are calm.  The fish know to stay in that peaceful place and let the storm pass.
In prayer each day, I choose to turn my thoughts to the peace of God within me.
On the surface of my mind, the appearance of lack or conflict or fear may toss my
thoughts about in worry.  I gently release those thoughts and move my attention
deeper, to a place of peace within me.  I take time for prayer throughout my
day.  As I rest in the stillness, I am serene--mind, body, and spirit.  Each time I
center myself in the peace of God, I experience absolute peace and tranquility.

Unattributed (Daily Word)

   
Happy is the person who can keep a quiet heart,
in the chaos and tumult of this modern world.

Patience Strong
   

Peace is not something you can force on anything or anyone--much less
upon one's own mind.  It is like trying to quiet the ocean by pressing upon
the waves.  Sanity lies in somehow opening to the chaos, allowing anxiety,
moving deeply into the tumult, diving deeply in the waves,
where underneath, within, peace simply is.

Gerald May

   

We often see people every day searching in the wrong places for the things
they desire.  Too many of our fellow humans try to find peace and happiness
in drugs, alcohol, and sensual excitement.  And it doesn't work.  If we desire
peace, the first place to look is within ourselves.  Peace isn't an external
condition as much as an internal context.

John Marks Templeton
Worldwide Laws of Life

   

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There is a fear of peace that I don't understand.  Witness the
old epithet "peaceniks," the association of peace with weakness.
We mistake kindness for weakness in individuals, too.
Gandhi found the essence of Christianity to be gentleness, the
exaltation of means over ends.
Using violence, against us or them, to achieve peace is like
beating children to get them to be good.  It only works in the
short term.
Believe in peace, think peace, live peace.  Be a
building-block of peace.  Make it the center of your strength.

Jennifer James

   
Only when peace lives within each of us, will it live outside of us.  We must be
the wombs for a new harmony.  When it is small, peace is fragile.  Like a baby,
it needs nurturing attention.  We must protect peace from violence and
perversion if it is to grow.  We must be strong to do this.  But force, even in
the name of honor, is always tragic.  Instead, we must use the strength of
wisdom and conscience.  Only that power can nurture peace in this difficult time.

Deng Ming Dao
   

I take it that what all people are really after is some form of,
perhaps only some formula of, peace.

James Conrad

    

Peace without justice is an impossibility.

Desmond Tutu
Believe

Peace involves inevitable righteousness, justice, wholesomeness,
fullness of life, participation in decision making, goodness, laughter,
joy, compassion, sharing, and reconciliation.

peace

   
Our work for peace must begin within the private world of each of us.

Dag Hammarskjold
  

Each one has to find his or her peace from within.  And peace to be
real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.

Mohandas Gandhi

  

If you really want peace of mind and inner calm, you will get it.
Regardless of how unjustly you have been treated, or how unfair
the boss has been, or what a mean scoundrel someone has
proved to be, all this makes no difference to you when you
awaken to your mental and spiritual powers.

Joseph Murphy

  
The peace which results from social comfort, passing gratification,
or worldly victory is transitory in nature, and is burned up in the heat
of fiery trial. . . only the selfless heart can know the Peace of Heaven.

James Allen
  

Five great enemies to peace inhabit us:  avarice, ambition, envy,
anger and pride.  If those enemies were to be banished,
we would infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.

Petrarch

  

Peace is not something you wish for; it is something you make, something
you are, something you do, and something you give away.

Robert Fulghum

   

     
    

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(Found online images come from a variety of unattributed
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Yes, life can be mysterious and confusing--but there's much of life that's actually rather dependable and reliable.  Some principles apply to life in so many different contexts that they can truly be called universal--and learning what they are and how to approach them and use them can teach us some of the most important lessons that we've ever learned.
My doctorate is in Teaching and Learning.  I use it a lot when I teach at school, but I also do my best to apply what I've learned to the life I'm living, and to observe how others live their lives.  What makes them happy or unhappy, stressed or peaceful, selfish or generous, compassionate or arrogant?  In this book, I've done my best to pass on to you what I've learned from people in my life, writers whose works I've read, and stories that I've heard.  Perhaps these principles can be a positive part of your life, too!
Universal Principles of Living Life Fully.  Awareness of these principles can explain a lot and take much of the frustration out of the lives we lead.