20 Quotes from the Nonviolent Resistance Front

(ref: After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance, Anne Sibley O’Brien and Perry Edmond O’Brien)

Mohandas Gandhi’s birthday is October 2nd. In honor of him, the United Nations in 2007 adopted this day to be International Day of Nonviolence. Here are some quotes from leaders in nonviolent resistance that inspire me.

1. Nonviolence is an intensely active force when properly understood and used. – Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948)
2. If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children. – Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948)
3. The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions. – Thich Nhat Hanh (1926- )
4. If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone, will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work. – Thich Nhat Hanh (1926- )
5. I had no idea that history was being made. I was just tired of giving in. – Rosa Parks (1913-2005)
6. As long as people use tactics to oppress or restrict other people from being free, there is work to be done. – Rosa Parks (1913-2005)
7. To make peace with an enemy one must work with that enemy and that enemy becomes one’s partner. – Nelson Mandela (1918- )
8. We fought injustice wherever we found it, no matter how large, or how small, and we fought injustice to preserve our own humanity. – Nelson Mandela (1918- )
9. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
10. Today we struggle for the soul of our country. – Charles Perkins (1936-2000)
11. If we’re full of hatred, we can’t really do our work. Hatred saps all that strength and energy we need to plan. – Cesar Chavez (1927-1993)
12. I have nothing to lose by standing up and following my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years. – Muhammad Ali (1942- )
13. Our common humanity is more important than all the things that divide us. – Mairead Corrigan (1944- )
14. Nonviolence is the weapon of the strong. – Betty Williams (1943- )
15. You should never let your fears prevent you from doing what you know is right. – Aung San Suu Kyi (1945- )
16. I believe history teaches us a categorical lesson: that once a people are determined to become free, then nothing in the world can stop them reaching their goal. – Bishop Desmond Tutu (1931- )
17. We must not only speak about forgiveness and reconciliation – we must act on these principles. – Bishop Desmond Tutu (1931- )
18. I really do inhabit a system in which words are capable of shaking the entire structure of government, where words can prove mightier than ten military divisions. – Vaclav Havel (1936- )
19. We are called to assist the earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own – indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty, and wonder. – Wangari Maathai (1940- )
20. We are constantly being astonished these days at the amazing discoveries in the field of violence. But I maintain that far more undreamt of and seemingly impossible discoveries will be made in the field of nonviolence. – Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948)

Keep the dialog about nonviolent resistance going! Please contribute your own favorite quote in your comments.