When it becomes a bloody reality, we have to come together and look at what can be done to return to the order of peace, ... There is no alternative to it.
We proved that the aggressors do not necessarily emerge as the victors, but we learned that the victors do not necessarily win peace.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that winning a conflict doesn't guarantee peace, and that those who are aggressive may also not prevail in the end.
This quote by Shimon Peres reflects on the complexities of conflict and victory. It conveys the idea that while aggressors, or those who instigate conflict, may not always come out on top, the so-called victors of a struggle may still fail to achieve a lasting peace. This highlights the importance of understanding that true victory involves more than just overcoming an opponent; it requires establishing harmony and resolution after the conflict has ended.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a discussion on the importance of diplomacy after a war.
More from Shimon Peres
All quotes βI didn't plan to be a politician. The founder of our country, David Ben-Gurion, called me from the kibbutz to serve in the underground. We were short of manpower, short of arms. I was 24 years old. I was supposed to serve my country for one or two years. I am 89 years old this year, and I keep going.
The United States is the only power in history that became great by giving and not by taking. I think the crisis was when the United States had more money than ideas. Money doesn't produce money. Ideas produce money.
The problem of the Middle East is poverty more than politics.
The Iranian regime suppresses its own people as well as others in the region. It prevents peace by sponsoring terror globally. With the ultimate weapon that it is deceptively developing, the regime aims to gain hegemony over the entire Middle East and hold the world's economy hostage.
Early in the morning, I fell in love with the girl that later on became my wife. At that time, we were so naive. I wanted to charm her, so I read her Capital by Marx. I thought somehow she would be convinced by the strength of his criticism about capital.
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If one rejects laissez faire on account of mans fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action.
I stay away from heavy-handed stuff, the good guy and the bad guy. It just doesn't interest me; all it does is create more fences between people, I think.
Emotions can certainly be misleading: they can fool you into believing stuff that is definitely, demonstrably untrue. Yet emotions are also our indispensable tool for navigating, for feeling our way through, the much larger domain of stuff that isn't susceptible to proof or disproof, that isn't checkable against the physical universe.
Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. Blood, whips and guns--or dollars. Take your choice--there is no other.
The Lord doesn't care at all if we spend our days working in marble halls or stable stalls. He knows where we are, no matter how humble our circumstances. He will use - in his own way and for his holy purposes - those who incline their hearts to Him.
Travel, I was coming to realize, was a metaphor not only for the countless options life offers but also for the fact that choosing one option reduces you to the parameters of that choice. Thus, in knowing my possibilities, I also knew my limitations.