Mahavira - A J Muste - George Fox - Alice Walker - Albert Dietrich - George Orwell - Buddha - Christopher Hitchens - Noam Chomsky - William Faulkner - Leon Trotsky - Albert Einstein - Theodore Roosevelt - Alfred North Whitehead - Vera Brittain - John Stuart Mill - Lost Horizon 1937 - Percy Bysshe Shelley -
77,748. Nonviolence is the greatest religion. (Jain & Violence & Pacifism & Religion) Mahavira
84,387. If I can’t love Hitler, I can’t love at all. A J Muste, American pacifist, to Quaker meeting and cited New York Times 12th February 1967
84,388. There is no way to peace. Peace is the way. A J Muste, cited New York Times 16th November 1967
86,125. I told them I lived in the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars. (Quaker & Pacifism) George Fox 1624-91, English founder of Quakers, on being offered captaincy in Commonwealth army
86,128. All bloody principles and practices, we, as to our own particulars, do utterly deny, with all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end or under any pretense whatsoever. And this is our testimony to the whole world. (Quaker & Pacifism) George Fox, journal 1661
84,389. The quietly pacifist peaceful
always die
to make room for men
who shout. Who tell lies to
children, and crush the corners
off of old men’s dreams. Alice Walker, The QPP 1973
84,390. There are perhaps many causes worth dying for, but to me, certainly, there are none worth killing for. Albert Dietrich, Army GI, Pacifist CO: The World War II Letters of Frank and Albert Dietrich
84,391. Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side, you automatically help out that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, ‘he that is not with me is against me’. George Orwell
84,392. The majority of pacifists either belong to obscure religious sects or are simply humanitarians who object to taking life and prefer not to follow their thoughts beyond that point. But there is a minority of intellectual pacifists, whose real though unacknowledged motive appears to be hatred of western democracy and admiration for totalitarianism. Pacifist propaganda usually boils down to saying that one side is as bad as the other, but if one looks closely at the writing of the younger intellectual pacifists, one finds that they do not by any means express impartial disapproval but are directed almost entirely against Britain and the United States. George Orwell
84,393. In so far as it takes effect at all, pacifist propaganda can only be effective against those countries where a certain amount of freedom of speech is still permitted; in other words it is helpful to totalitarianism. George Orwell
84,396. If [pacifists] imagine that one can somehow ‘overcome’ the German army by lying on one's back, let them go on imagining it, but let them also wonder occasionally whether this is not an illusion due to security, too much money and a simple ignorance of the way in which things actually happen. George Orwell
84,393. Those who attempt to conquer hatred by hatred are like warriors who take weapons to overcome others who bear arms. This does not end hatred, but gives it room to grow. But, ancient wisdom has advocated a different timeless strategy to overcome hatred. This eternal wisdom is to meet hatred with non-hatred. The method of trying to conquer hatred through hatred never succeeds in overcoming hatred. But, the method of overcoming hatred through non-hatred is eternally effective. That is why that method is described as eternal wisdom. Buddha
84,395. If the counsel of the peaceniks had been followed, Kuwait would today be the nineteenth province of Iraq. Bosnia would be a trampled and cleansed province of Greater Serbia, Kosovo would have been emptied of most of its inhabitants, and the Taliban would still be in power in Afghanistan. Yet nothing seems to disturb the contented air of moral superiority of those that intone the ‘peace movement’. Christopher Hitchens
84,394. I am not a committed pacifist. I would not hold that it is under all imaginable circumstances wrong to use violence, even though use of violence is in some sense unjust. I believe that one has to estimate relative justices. But the use of violence and the creation of some degree of injustice can only be justified on the basis of the claim and the assessment – which always ought to be undertaken very, very seriously and with a good deal of scepticism that this violence is being exercised because a more just result is going to be achieved. Noam Chomsky
84,395. Men have been pacifists for every reason under the sun except to avoid danger and fighting. William Faulkner, The Unvanquished
84,397. Generally speaking, by the way, that is the moral of the opponents of violence in politics: they renounce violence when it comes to introducing changes in what already exists, but in defence of the existing order they will not stop at the most ruthless acts. Leon Trotsky, History of the Russian Revolution
84,398. I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war. (Pacifism & War) Albert Einstein
84,402. My pacifism is an instinctive feeling, a feeling that possesses me because the murder of men is disgusting. Albert Einstein, 1920
91,586. The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer. (Traitor & Pacifism) Theodore Roosevelt
84,400. The absolute pacifist is a bad citizen; times come when force must be used to uphold right, justice and ideals. Alfred North Whitehead
84,401. All that a pacifist can undertake – but it is a very great deal – is to refuse to kill, injure or otherwise cause suffering to another human creature, and untiringly to order his life by the rule of love though others may be captured by hate. Vera Brittain 1939
84,403. War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. John Stuart Mill
84,614. I’m not going to have an army. I’m going to disband mine. And sink my battleships. I’m going to destroy every piece of warcraft. Then when the enemy approaches, we’ll say, ‘Come in, gentlemen. What can we do for you?’ (Paradise & Pacifism) Lost Horizon 1937 ***** starring Ronald Colman & Jane Wyatt & H B Warner & Sam Jaffe & John Howard & Edward Everett Horton & Thomas Mitchell & Margo & Isabel Jewell & David Clyde & David Torrence et al, director Frank Capra, Robert Conway on plane
92,204. Man has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder. (Uniform & Kill & Pacifism) Percy Bysshe Shelley