International Peace Day: 10 inspirational quotes from history on the ideal and its true meaning

Theme varies with each year, with 2018's honouring Universal Declaration of Human Rights on its 70th anniversary

The United Nations (UN) observes International Peace Day this Friday.

First held on 21 September 1982 following a resolution sponsored by the UK and Costa Rica, the occasion was inaugurated by the UN General Assembly as a moment “devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples”.

In 1999, British documentary filmmaker Jeremy Gilley formed Peace One Day, an organisation campaigning for the existing day to be institutionalised around the world, ensuring that all countries honour ceasefires on 21 September. Giley appealed directly to the General Assembly on 7 September 2001 and his resolution was duly adopted.

To mark the day, the UN rings the Peace Bell at its New York City headquarters, a gift from Japan forged from coins donated by children across the world “as a reminder of the human cost of war”.

Every year the day is given a theme. In 2018, International Peace Day honours the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948.

Translated into 35 languages, Article 3 establishes and enshrines the fundamental democratic principle that, “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”

In tribute to International Peace Day, here’s our selection of wise words on the ideal and its meaning from some historical greats.

Winston Churchill

“If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another.”

Dwight D Eisenhower

“If men can develop weapons that are so terrifying as to make the thought of global war include almost a sentence for suicide, you would think that man’s intelligence and his comprehension ... would include also his ability to find a peaceful solution.”

Benjamin Franklin

“There was never a good war or a bad peace.”

Herbert Hoover

“Peace can be promoted by the limitation of arms and by the creation of the instrumentality for peaceful settlement of controversies. But it will become a reality only through self-restraint and active effort in friendliness and helpfulness.”

Martin Luther King, Jr

“Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.”

Abraham Lincoln

“Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets.”

Barack Obama

“Let us remember we are all part of one American family. We are united in common values, and that includes belief in equality under the law, basic respect for public order, and the right of peaceful protest.”

Ronald Reagan

“Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.”

Mother Teresa

“Peace begins with a smile.”

Lech Walesa

“My most ardent desire is that my country will recapture its historic opportunity for a peaceful evolution and that Poland will prove to the world that even the most complex situations can be solved by a dialogue and not by force.”