Peace quotes
Calm minds and quiet nations. Quotes about peace, rest and stillness from scripture, the Stoics and the poets.
The library has 339 quotes on this topic. Here are 60 of the most quoted, no more than four from any one writer.
60 peace quotes
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A peace above all earthly dignities, A still and quiet conscience.
William Shakespeare Henry VIII, Act iii. Sc. 2 -
Poor and content is rich and rich enough; But riches fineless is as poor as winter To him that ever fears he shall be poor.
William Shakespeare Othello, iii. 3 -
Where peace and rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all.
John Milton Paradise Lost, Bk. I -
Who pants for glory finds but short repose: A breath revives him, or a breath o’erthrows.
Alexander Pope Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Epistle i, Book ii. Line 300 -
A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise shall give no peace.
Ralph Waldo Emerson Essays: First Series -
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell, Uproar the universal peace, confound All unity on earth.
William Shakespeare Macbeth, Act iv. Sc. 3 -
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson Self-Reliance, Essays: First Series -
A peace is of the nature of a conquest: For then both parties nobly are subdued, And neither party loser.
William Shakespeare Henry IV, Part 2, Act iv. Sc. 2 -
This quiet sail is as a noiseless wing To waft me from distraction.
Lord Byron Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iii. Stanza 85 -
And through the heat of conflict keeps the law In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw.
William Wordsworth Character of the Happy Warrior -
Absence of occupation is not rest, A mind quite vacant is a mind distress’d.
William Cowper Retirement, Line 623 -
The meteor flag of England Shall yet terrific burn, Till danger’s troubled night depart, And the star of peace return.
Thomas Campbell Ye Mariners of England -
The Bhikshu whose body and tongue and mind are quieted, who is collected, and has rejected the baits of the world, he is called quiet.
The Buddha Dhammapada, v. 378 · translated by F. Max Müller -
Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets.
Abraham Lincoln January 23 -
Happy is the arising of the awakened, happy is the teaching of the True Law, happy is peace in the church, happy is the devotion of those who are at peace.
The Buddha Dhammapada, v. 194 · translated by F. Max Müller -
The Bhikshu, full of delight, who is calm in the doctrine of Buddha will reach the quiet place, cessation of natural desires, and happiness.
The Buddha Dhammapada, v. 381 · translated by F. Max Müller -
The Bhikshu who acts with kindness, who is calm in the doctrine of Buddha, will reach the quiet place, cessation of natural desires, and happiness.
The Buddha Dhammapada, v. 368 · translated by F. Max Müller -
We mean to be as deliberate and calm as it is possible to be; but as firm and resolved as it is possible for men to be.
Abraham Lincoln December 8 -
To be good is to be in harmony with oneself. Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others.
Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous Aphorisms -
Unable to strengthen justice, they have justified might; so that the just and the strong should unite, and there should be peace, which is the sovereign good.
Blaise Pascal Pensées, No. 299 · translated by W. F. Trotter -
To him who holds in his hands the Great Image of the invisible Tao, the whole world repairs. Men resort to him, and receive no hurt, but find rest, peace, and the feeling of ease.
Laozi Tao Te Ching, ch. 35.1 · translated by James Legge -
The man does not live who is more devoted to peace than I.
Abraham Lincoln September 9 -
I will not allow man to depend upon himself, or upon another, to the end that being without a resting-place and without repose …
Blaise Pascal Pensées, No. 419 · translated by W. F. Trotter -
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself; nothing, but the triumph of principles.
Ralph Waldo Emerson Essays: First Series -
The Gothic cathedral is a blossoming in stone subdued by the insatiable demand of harmony in man.
Ralph Waldo Emerson Essays: First Series -
How easy it is to repel and to wipe away every impression which is troublesome or unsuitable, and immediately to be in all tranquillity.
Marcus Aurelius Meditations, Book V.2 · translated by George Long -
Home is the place of Peace; the shelter, not only from all injury, but from all terror, doubt, and division.
John Ruskin Sesame and Lilies -
Weigh these things fully, and then, if you will, lay to your hand; if as the price of these things you would gain Freedom, Tranquillity, and passionless Serenity.
Epictetus Golden Sayings, No. CIV · translated by Hastings Crossley -
He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.
Epictetus -
If a man has this peace—not the peace proclaimed by Caesar (how indeed should he have it to proclaim?)
Epictetus Golden Sayings, No. CLXXXVIII · translated by Hastings Crossley -
Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.
Epictetus Enchiridion, ch. VIII · translated by George Long -
When a strong man armed keepeth his goods, his goods are in peace.
Blaise Pascal Pensées, No. 300 · translated by W. F. Trotter -
Safe in the hallowed quiets of the past.
James Russell Lowell The Cathedral -
All feelings have their peculiar tone of voice, gestures and looks, and this harmony, as it is good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, makes people agreeable or disagreeable.
François de La Rochefoucauld Maxims, Maxim 255 · translated by J. W. Willis Bund and J. Hain Friswell -
The end of society is peace and mutual protection, so that the individual may reach the fullest and highest life attainable by man.
Thomas Henry Huxley Aphorisms and Reflections, No. CCCLXVIII -
We should have to fight over this. He has four lackeys, and I have only one. This can be seen; we have only to count. It falls to me to yield, and I am a fool if I contest the matter. By this means we are at peace, which is the greatest of boons.
Blaise Pascal Pensées, No. 319 · translated by W. F. Trotter -
When we do not find peace of mind (repos) in ourselves it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
François de La Rochefoucauld Maxims (supplement), Supplement, VIII · translated by J. W. Willis Bund and J. Hain Friswell -
The calm or disturbance of our mind does not depend so much on what we regard as the more important things of life, as in a judicious or injudicious arrangement of the little things of daily occurrence.
François de La Rochefoucauld Maxims, Maxim 488 · translated by J. W. Willis Bund and J. Hain Friswell -
This hand, to tyrants ever sworn the foe, For Freedom only deals the deadly blow; Then sheathes in calm repose the vengeful blade, For gentle peace in Freedom’s hallowed shade.
John Quincy Adams Written in an Album, 1842 -
The greatest hatred, like the greatest virtue and the worst dogs, is quiet.
Jean Paul -
The harvest of a quiet eye, That broods and sleeps on his own heart.
William Wordsworth A Poet’s Epitaph, Stanza 13 -
And to tired limbs and over-busy thoughts, Inviting sleep and soft forgetfulness.
William Wordsworth The Excursion, Bk. IV -
Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night’s repose.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -
The first men who substituted the state of mutual peace for that of mutual war, whatever the motive which impelled them to take that step, created society. But, in establishing peace, they obviously put a limit upon the struggle for existence.
Thomas Henry Huxley Aphorisms and Reflections, No. CCLXXV -
Learn to be pleased with everything; with wealth so far as it makes us of benefit to others; with poverty, for not having much to care for; and with obscurity, for being unenvied.
Plutarch -
Enjoy your own life without comparing it with that of another.
Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat de Condorcet -
The number of great generals and statesmen, as well as excellent authors, that France has produced, is an undeniable proof, that it is not that frivolous, unthinking, empty nation that the northern prejudices suppose it.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Letters to His Son -
Reason’s whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, Lie in three words,—health, peace, and competence. Rut health consists with temperance alone. And peace, O Virtue! peace is all thine own.
Alexander Pope Essay on Man, Epistle IV -
There is no mortal truly wise and restless at once; wisdom is the repose of minds.
Johann Kaspar Lavater -
Reason’s whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, Lie in three words, health, peace and competence: But health consists with temperance alone; And peace, O Virtue! peace is all thy own.
Alexander Pope -
Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
Bible (World English Bible) John, 14:27 -
A calm serenity, negative merit and graces, do not become your age.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Letters to His Son -
He who did well in war just earns the right To begin doing well in peace.
Robert Browning Luria, Act ii -
Occupy thyself with few things, says the philosopher, if thou wouldst be tranquil.
Marcus Aurelius Meditations, Book IV.24 · translated by George Long -
The immoral man, who invades another’s property, is justly hanged for it; and the ill-bred man, who, by his ill-manners, invades and disturbs the quiet comforts of private life, is by common consent as justly banished from society.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Letters to His Son -
From harmony, from heavenly harmony, This universal frame began: From harmony to harmony Through all the compass of the notes it ran, The diapason closing full in Man.
John Dryden A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day, Line 11 -
There, take (says Justice), take ye each a shell: We thrive at Westminster on fools like you; ’Twas a fat oyster,—live in peace,—adieu.
Alexander Pope Verbatim from Boileau -
God pardons like a mother, who kisses the offence into everlasting forgetfulness.
Henry Ward Beecher -
He is richest who is content with the least; for content is the wealth of nature.
Socrates -
Serene sense and pure aims, that means a long stride, I should say.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe