“Architecture has the power to democratize space - to create environments where all people, regardless of their background, can participate in civic life.”
— Richard Rogers
Renowned British Architect & Designer of Iconic Modern Buildings

The quote archive

Peace

A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.

The Olympics elevate this understanding; there, athletes' origins become secondary. You don't dwell on their life stories; their athletic prowess and the spirit of competition captivate you. The focus is on their dedication and the culmination of years, sometimes lifetimes, of preparation, free from the constraints of politics and geographical divides.

— Yusra Mardini

Syrian Swimmer & Refugee Advocate Who Competed in Olympics

Grief is perhaps the most universal human experience—live long enough, and you will grieve. When I see grief in another, whether a friend or a perceived adversary, what do I choose to do? In moments of shared grief, we find ourselves reflecting each other; your grief mirrors mine.

— Tembi Locke

Author of "From Scratch" memoir and television producer

We have taught them they are American, Indian or African. Children have never created borders, religions, faiths or caste systems. Children have not been responsible for wars and divisions in society- we did that… and now we're imposing on our children, from their birth, a divisive image of who they are. We need to learn from children, and learn simplicity, forgiveness and the beauty of life.

— Kailash Satyarthi

Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Child Rights Activist Against Child Labor

I want every mother in the world, from Baghdad to New York to be able to guarantee the same strength and health to her child; to give that child the tools to control their happiness and health, and to have the power to live well.

— Wim Hof

Extreme athlete known for ice exposure & breathing technique methods

Society feels broken because society is broken. When the most powerful nations in the world are spending billions of dollars on ways to kill each-other, and a fraction of those resources on ways to heal each other, we're broken.

— Marianne Williamson

Author of "A Return to Love" & Spiritual Activist

They help us to understand that there is no 'us' versus 'them', and that 'The Other' is, in fact, my brother, my sister; the other is me.

— Elif Shafak

Turkish-British novelist and author of "The Forty Rules of Love

It's okay to have differences... it's okay to have different religions... it's okay to not agree on everything. However, respect should always be there. Sometimes you have to listen before you talk.

— Shaquille O’Neal

Hall of Fame NBA Center & 4-Time NBA Champion

The fundamental starting point is to acknowledge that outside actors can rarely create peace, local ownership in resolving the conflicts is vital. You cannot import peace, it is created within society.

— Kristiina Rintakoski

Unknown.

Other components of liberal democracy—civil liberties, rule of law and free markets—may play a larger role as long-term deterrents than simply having free elections. If the country goes all the way to a more complete liberal democracy, then it is likely to significantly decrease terrorism and political violence.

— Kurrild-Klitgaard, Justesen and Klemmensen

Even though we still have approximately twenty thousand hydrogen bombs in the arsenals of the United States and Russia (many of them ready to use at a moment's notice) the two risks that most experts think are the greatest and most likely are the risks of a single bomb being used by a terrorist group or the risk of a regional war involving dozens of weapons.

— Joseph Cirincione

Nuclear weapons expert and president of the Ploughshares Fund.

By the time the bomb was completed, that kind of carnage had become common place in World War II and the atomic bomb was then seen as little more than a bigger firebomb—the kind that been used on Tokyo and Dresden.

— Joseph Cirincione

Nuclear weapons expert and president of the Ploughshares Fund.

Nuclear weapons were invented out of fear. The United States was afraid that Hitler was developing an atomic weapon, and they had to get one to deter him from ever using it. When the U.S. Manhattan Project that built the bomb began, no-one ever thought we would use a weapon like this; it was considered beyond the pale—a weapon that would indiscriminately kill hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.

— Joseph Cirincione

Nuclear weapons expert and president of the Ploughshares Fund.

As two adversaries accumulate a longer history of conflict, their rivalry relationship tends to become 'locked-in' or entrenched, with future conflict becoming increasingly difficult to avoid; characteristics of their past confrontations can hasten or reverse this movement toward rivalry.

— Paul Hensel

In the Fourth Generation war, the state loses its monopoly on war. All over the world, state militaries find themselves fighting non-state opponents such as al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Almost everywhere, the state is losing.

— William Lind

We can see, therefore, that sovereign debt has a systemically important role in the stability of the global economy, the economies of individual states and even the very peace of a country. To be able to then treat this as a market instrument- while appropriate at a time when capital flows were gentile and considered- is clearly not when we can write $2 trillion or more from an entire economy in a matter of seconds.

— Unknown

All conflicts are different with their particular history and reasons. I think that inequality within societies and between regions has become a key cause for conflict, exacerbated by rapid information dissemination, as people are now more aware of inequalities.

— Kristiina Rintakoski

Unknown.