Lanza del Vasto quotes

“A peacemaker does not mean a peaceful person.”
-- Lanza del Vasto

Source : Joseph Jean Lanza del Vasto (1974). “Make straight the way of the Lord: an anthology of the philosophical writings of Lanza del Vasto”, Knopf Books for Young Readers

#Peace Quotes #Mean Quotes #Doe Quotes

“The most efficient action, the most significant testimony to nonviolence, is living a life in which there is no violence-showing that such a life is possible, and even not more difficult than a life of gain, nor more unpleasant than a life of pleasure, nor less natural than an 'ordinary' life.”
-- Lanza del Vasto

#Peace Quotes #Ordinary Quotes #Gains Quotes

“Nobody was born nonviolent. No one was born charitable. None of us comes to these things by nature but only by conversion. The first duty of the nonviolent community is helping its members work upon themselves and come to conversion.”
-- Lanza del Vasto

#Peace Quotes #Community Quotes #Firsts Quotes

“Find the shortest, simplest way between the earth, the hands, and the mouth.”
-- Lanza del Vasto

#Hands Quotes #Mouths Quotes #Earth Quotes

“The machine enslaves, the hand sets free.”
-- Lanza del Vasto

Source : Joseph Jean Lanza del Vasto (1974). “Make straight the way of the Lord: an anthology of the philosophical writings of Lanza del Vasto”, Knopf Books for Young Readers

#Hands Quotes #Machines Quotes

“In the practice of any craft, we are less concerned with the quantity of the product than with its quality, and less concerned with the product than with the artisan.”
-- Lanza del Vasto

#Peace Quotes #Practice Quotes #Quality Quotes

“You want a better, more fraternal, more just world? Well then, start building it: Who is stopping you? Build it inside yourself and around you, build it with those who want it. Build it small, and it will grow.”
-- Lanza del Vasto

#Stopping Quotes #World Quotes #Want Quotes

“Violence begets violence by whomever used. War is a dirty business and entails the use of degrading means, whoever wages it.”

“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.”

“Television in the 1960s & 70s had just as much dross and the programmes were a lot more tediously patronising than they are now. Memory truncates occasional gems into a glittering skein of brilliance. More television, more channels means more good television and, of course, more bad. The same equation applies to publishing, film and, I expect, sumo wrestling.”

“For the most part I have been able to meet all my goals, but I always strive for bigger goals in life so everything's not complete just yet. My first aspiration was to be known as a singer and also as an advocate for sickle cell disease. I try to be that inspiration, you know. It's not as bad as people try to make it seem. I mean, it is, but it's not. People don't have to be afraid of it; they don't have to be held down by it. Try to find triumph in the situation.”

“Our fans want us to be happy and if that means being married or having a girlfriend, they are okay with that. Of course, in this industry it is a bit harder to have normal relationships, but it is possible.”

“Poetry leads us to the unstructured sources of our beings, to the unknown, and returns us to our rational, structured selves refreshed. Having once experienced the mystery, plenitude, contradiction, and composure of a work of art, we afterward have a built-in resistance to the slogans and propaganda of oversimplification that have often contributed to the destruction of human life. Poetry is a verbal means to a nonverbal source. It is a motion to no-motion, to the still point of contemplation and deep realization.”

“The principle of Parliamentary sovereignty means neither more nor less than this, namely, that Parliament thus defined has, under the English constitution, the right to make or unmake any law whatever; and, further, that no person or body is recognised by the law of England as having a right to override or set aside the legislation of Parliament.”

Source : "Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution" by A. V. Dicey, LibertyClassics, (pp. 3-4), 1982.

“There are a billion people in China. It's not easy to be an individual in a crowd of more than a billion people. Think of it. More than a billion people. That means even if you're a one-in-a-million type of guy, there are still a thousand guys exactly like you.”

Source : A. Whitney Brown (1991). “The Big Picture: An American Commentary”, Harper Perennial

“God does not so much want us to do things as to let people see what He can do.”

“I gravitate toward the larger worldview questions such as, Why are we here? What are we supposed to be doing? What does it mean to know another person? To love someone? Of course, those questions are sort of in the background as I'm playing with language in the foreground, but those are the informing questions.”

Source : "Cartographer of Word Galaxies". The Believer interview, logger.believermag.com. September 24, 2013.