“When you're involved in conflict, you're not sane. You may start out being sane, and in those early stages it's certainly possible to mediate and arbitrate. Using those tools you often end up cutting the baby in half – you give a little, I give a little, you give a little more, I give a little more, and suddenly everyone is miserable.”
— Judge Judith Sheindlin
Creator and star of TV show "Judge Judy" for 25 years

The quote archive

Peace

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

In the short-run, my fear would be that we've mismanaged the relationship with China through miscalculation to produce a 1914-like situation. There's obviously the danger of nuclear weapons and a miscalculation leading to their use, and inevitably therefore, catastrophic outcomes.

— Joseph S. Nye Jr.

Harvard Professor & Creator of "Soft Power" Concept

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

Rape is one of the oldest weapons of war and it remains so to this day. For so long, it has been viewed as an 'unfortunate' side effect of war. But really, it is a tactic.

— Nadia Murad

Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Yazidi Genocide Survivor Advocate

Beyond the atrocities of mass murder and rape, ISIS also set out to systematically destroy the Yazidi community by ensuring that we did not have the resources to survive in our homeland. They poisoned wells, burned farms, took out electrical grids, and destroyed schools, homes, temples, and hospitals.

— Nadia Murad

Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Yazidi Genocide Survivor Advocate

I don't think it was inevitable until the point where the tanks started rolling-in. It was unstoppable at that point… But 20 years ago, would we have realised this was going to happen? My sense would be absolutely not.

— Simon Smith

I was working in Russia from 1998-2002... You also had this extraordinary episode where Putin is on record being asked a question, 'President Putin, do you think Russia could ever join NATO?' to which he replied, 'Why not?!' – what he actually said was 'why not…' provided that Russia could be a fully-fledged partner in NATO.

— Simon Smith

There is no such thing as one-sided victory in diplomacy, perhaps in war there is, but not in diplomacy. You are always, or at least should always be, mindful of the other side.

— Lord Simon McDonald

We're afraid of living under constant terrorism, and the constant threat of a neighbour who wants to kill you and destroy everything you care about. The escalation is already here.

— Kira Rudik

Ukrainian politician and head of Servant of the People party faction

However brave you are, you can't protect yourself against a huge pile of metal coming from the sky to kill you and everything you love.

— Kira Rudik

Ukrainian politician and head of Servant of the People party faction

The more we trust the 'gold' within ourselves, the more we are able to see it in others. Due to our negativity bias, it's easy to focus on the flaws or defenses in others. However, the more we train ourselves to see the goodness in others, the more we can recognize it.

— Tara Brach

Meditation Teacher & Author of "Radical Acceptance

Response to, and resolution of what lay behind the merciless attack, should theoretically still be for peaceful resolution in accordance with the UN Charter.

— Sir Geoffrey Nice KC

Prosecutor of Slobodan Milošević at the International Criminal Tribunal

From my perspective, however, justice alone is insufficient for reconciliation. True reconciliation must originate within a society, involving both victims and perpetrators. Yet, accountability is an essential starting point, laying the groundwork for reconciliation efforts.

— Dr. Serge Brammertz

Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda

Historically, conflicts typically ended with the major players negotiating peace agreements, often including amnesties. The more brutal and involved in crimes a party was, the more significant their role at the negotiation table. This approach changed after the Second World War with the Nuremberg trials.

— Dr. Serge Brammertz

Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda

I firmly believe that a society cannot heal from the wounds of war without accountability for serious international crimes. How can a society move towards a shared future while fundamental disagreements about the past and about responsibility for past crimes persist?

— Dr. Serge Brammertz

Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda