Inspiration Peak: Quotes about Justice, Peace and Community

In Germany they came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)
German Protestant Clergyman

"Better to light one small candle
than to curse the darkness."

Chinese Proverb
Books Other Proverbs

"Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow--it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it."

Shakti Gawain
Author Of "Creative Visualization"
Other Books

If there is light in the soul,
There will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person,
There will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house,
There will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation,
There will be peace in the world.

Chinese Proverb
Books Other Proverbs

Where there is no vision, the people perish.

The Book of Proverbs
Other Biblical Quotes

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens
can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Margaret Mead
American Anthropologist
Books

"Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?

We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move.

You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel?

You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children."

Pablo Casals (1876-1973)
Spanish Cellist
Books

I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.

Booker T. Washington
African American Educator
Books

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Martin Luther King
American Civil Rights Leader
Books Quotes

Past the seeker as he prayed came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten. And seeing them...he cried, "Great God, how is it that a loving creator can see such things and yet do nothing about them?"...God said, "I did do something. I made you."

Sufi Teaching
Books On Sufiism

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
American Civil Rights Leader
Books Quotes

There can be hope only for a society which acts as one big family, not as many separate ones.

Anwar Sadat
Egyptian President
Books Quotes

"There are only two ways of spreading light -
to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."

Edith Wharton
American Novelist
Books

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

Mahatma Gandhi
Indian Political and Spiritual Leader
Books Quotes