We have learned that peace and well-being are indivisible and that our peace and well-being cannot be purchased at the price of peace or the well-being of any other country.
Interpretation
True peace requires the well-being of all nations, not just oneself.
In this quote, James F. Byrnes emphasizes the interconnectedness of nations and the idea that one country's peace is dependent on the peace and well-being of others. It advocates for a comprehensive approach to peace, suggesting that individual prosperity cannot come at the expense of others, thus underlining the importance of global cooperation and mutual respect for a harmonious world.
In practice
During a speech on international relations, one could use this quote to emphasize the need for collaboration between countries.
I hope that the German people will never again make the mistake of believing that because the American people are peace-loving, they will sit back hoping for peace if any nation uses force or the threat of force to acquire dominion over other peoples and other governments.
What we want is a lasting peace. We will oppose soft measures which invite the breaking of the peace.
Let a Secretary of Peace be appointed.
Choose the human race over the nuclear race. Bury the weapons and don't burn the people.
Out yonder they may curse, revile, and torture one another, defile all the human instincts, make a shambles of creation (if it were in their power), but here, no, here, it is unthinkable, here there is abiding peace, the peace of God, and the serene security created by a handful of good neighbors living at one with the creature world.
The quest for a war-free world has a basic purpose: survival. But if in the process we learn how to achieve it by love rather than by fear, by kindness rather than by compulsion; if in the process we learn to combine the essential with the enjoyable, the expedient with the benevolent, the practical with the beautiful, this will be an extra incentive to embark on this great task.
When I pray for peace, I pray not only that the enemies of my own country may cease to want war, but above all that my country will cease to do the things that make war inevitable.
I truly believe there is a field of peace within and that it can be enlivened and brought to the surface to be enjoyed by all.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.