Peace and education

“Teach children how they should live, and they will remember it all their life.”
Proverbs 22:6

“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, his culture or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can also be taught to love!”
(Nelson Mandela)

“Building peace is more often about creating space, developing relationships, persevering in spite of overwhelming pessimism, and being flexible enough to respond to emerging opportunities, meager as they may be.”
(John Paul Lederach)

“Peace equals the ability to handle conflict, with empathy, nonviolence, and creativity.”
(Johan Galtung)

“An enemy is one whose story we have not heard.”
(Gene Knudsen Hoffman)

Peace starts within you – you can’t give what you don’t have.

“… cloth yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievance you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all put on love… Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” Colossians 3:12-15

“First keep peace with yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.”
(Thomas à Kempis)

“What you want to ignite in others must first burn in yourself.”
(St. Augustine of Hippo)

“The greatest thing we can do for each other is to pray for each other.”
(Corrie ten Boom)

Peace is connected with our worldview

“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants for you; you will know what is good and what pleases him; you will know what is perfect.”
Romans 12:2

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”
(Albert Einstein)

“We cannot have peace if we are only concerned with peace. War is not an accident. It is the logical outcome of a certain way of life. If we want to attack war, we have to attack that way of life.”
(Abraham J. Muste)

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking.
It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
(Albert Einstein)

Peace needs justice

“Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.”
Leviticus 19:15

„Without justice, peace is hollow, without forgiveness, justice becomes another weapon in the fight.”
(Rula Khoury Mansour)

„There can be no justice without peace, and there can be no peace without justice.”
(Martin Luther King)

„Lasting peace requires addressing systemic injustices, root causes of conflict, and ensuring a solution for all.”
(Rula Khoury Mansour)

Peace requires compassion

“We know and relay on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”
1 John 4:16

“Only love can change your enemy into your friend.”
(Martin Luther King)

What makes us human is not our mind but our heart,
not our ability to think but our ability to love.
(Henry Nouwen)

“Peace begins with a smile.”
(Mother Teresa)

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
(Martin Luther King)

Peace depends on healing

“Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God has a powerful effect.”
James 5:16

“Pain that is not transformed is transferred.”
(Richard Rohr)
Harmed people harm people.

“Behind every act of violence is an unhealed wound.”
(Gene Knudsen Hoffman)

Truth-telling is crucial for healing and justice; it involves facing contested histories, acknowledging wrongdoing, and creating an atmosphere of forgiveness.
(Rula Khoury Mansour)

“Those who think of themselves as victims eventually become the victimisers of others.”
(Albert Lutuli)
The victims of today are the victimizors of tomorrow.

Peace is not the absence of conflict, but starting a journey together

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Philippians 2,3-4

“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”
(Nelson Mandela)

“The wings of transformation are born of patience and struggle.”
(Janet S. Dickens)

“There is not peace in society when there is no peace in family.”