Don't stand back with your arms folded; step forward... There is hope and light to resist injustice and promote peace without violence.
Adolfo Perez EsquivelRead
We know that peace is only possible when it is the fruit of justice. True peace is a profound transformation by means of the force of nonviolence that is the power of love.
Interpretation
True peace arises from justice and is achieved through nonviolence and love.
Adolfo Perez Esquivel emphasizes that authentic peace cannot exist without justice. He advocates for a transformative approach to peace, one that relies on nonviolence and the power of love, indicating that these elements are essential for lasting harmony in society.
In practice
In a speech advocating for social justice, you might reference this quote to highlight the need for love and justice in achieving peace.
Don't stand back with your arms folded; step forward... There is hope and light to resist injustice and promote peace without violence.
... we believe in the vocation of communion and participation of our people, who day to day awaken to their political conscience and express their desire for change and profound democratization of society. A change based on justice, built with love, and which will bring us the most anxiously desired fruits of peace.
Reflection is only a partial understanding of truth if it does not translate itself in practice into commitments to the common good and justice. Truth is not mere abstraction but something to be done and is only apprehended when this is realized.
We may think of peace as the absence of war, that if the great powers would reduce their weapons arsenals, we could have peace. But if we look deeply into the weapons, we will see our own minds - our own prejudices, fears, and ignorance.
If development is the new name for peace, war and preparations for war are the major enemy of the healthy development of peoples. If we take the common good of all humanity as our norm, instead of individual greed, peace would be possible.
I think one country with nuclear weapons is one country too many.
Ultimately, peace is just not about politics. It's about attitudes; about a sense of empathy; about breaking down the divisions that we create for ourselves in our own minds and our own hearts that don't exist in any objective reality, but that we carry with us generation after generation. And I know, because America, we, too, have had to work hard over the decades, slowly, gradually, sometimes painfully, in fits and starts, to keep perfecting our union.
In these days of wars and rumors of wars - haven't you ever dreamed of a place where there was peace and security, where living was not a struggle but a lasting delight?
In many parts of the world the people are searching for a solution which would link the two basic values: peace and justice. The two are like bread and salt for mankind.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.