Echoes

To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

Peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from force of character.

There never was a good war or a bad peace.

I have always been fond of the West African proverb "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."

Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.

It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

Don't let anyone impose on you. Don't be quarrelsome, but stand up for your rights. If you've got to fight, fight hard and well. To my mind, a coward is the only thing meaner than a liar.

We must ever bear in mind that the great end in view is righteousness, justice as between man and man, nation and nation, the chance to lead our lives on a somewhat higher level, with a broader spirit of brotherly goodwill one for another. Peace is generally good in itself, but it is never the highest good unless it comes as the handmaid of righteousness; and it becomes a very evil thing if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice and sloth, or as an instrument to further the ends of despotism or anarchy. We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but we despise no less the coward and the voluptuary. No man is worth calling a man who will not fight rather than submit to infamy or see those that are dear to him suffer wrong. No nation deserves to exist if it permits itself to lose the stern and virile virtues; and this without regard to whether the loss is due to the growth of a heartless and all-absorbing commercialism, to prolonged indulgence in luxury and soft, effortless ease, or to the deification of a warped and twisted sentimentality.

Our patience will achieve more than our force.

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.

First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

Let us speak courteously, deal fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready.

We have to face the fact that either all of us are going to die together or we are going to learn to live together and if we are to live together we have to talk.

There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for.

Force has no place where there is need of skill.

Power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent. Violence appears where power is in jeopardy, but left to its own course it ends in power's disappearance.

Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people.

The best fighter is never angry.

Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the Kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things. Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy. From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides.

O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.