Attributes with quotations from my selected heroes of peace

1.       (Behavior) Govern yourself by never allowing another’s behavior to negatively influence your conduct. Your actions are always your responsibility; they are never another’s fault. Determine your behavior from your vales, from the kind of person you want to be - never from how others behave toward you.

Do not allow your anger to control your reason, but rather your reason to control your anger.
Nelson Mandela

I have learned through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmitted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmitted into a power that can move the world.
Mahatma Gandhi

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.
Mahatma Gandhi

A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity.
Jimmy Carter

Each day is a continued battle for our control; not for our control over others, but for control of our response to them.
Native American - Cheyenne Tribe

If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived …
Martin Luther King, Jr.

We have the power to guide and encourage what is meant to be.
Carol Ruggie (Sparrow Village Project - co-founder of Modeling Future Heroes)

I think one's feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions which bring results.
Florence Nightingale

Let everyone regulate his conduct . . . by the golden rule of doing to others as in similar circumstances we would have them do to us, and the path of duty will be clear before him.
William Wilberforce

2.       (Change) Encourage positive change, not through criticism, but through your continuous achievements of excellence for all to witness. When criticized by others,
     offer continual examples of excellence as your only response.

When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves.
Viktor E. Frankl

We must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.
Mahatma Gandhi

We have learned that change cannot come through war. War is not a feasible tool to use in fighting against the oppression we face. War has caused more problems. We cannot embrace that path.
Rigoberta Menchu

Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing.
Albert Schweitzer

Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.
Albert Schweitzer

We must reinforce argument with results.
Booker T. Washington

Do what you feel in your heart to be right. You'll be criticized anyway.
Eleanor Roosevelt

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
Nelson Mandela

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.
Nelson Mandela

Each person must live their life as a model for others.
Rosa Parks

Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty.
Archbishop Oscar Romero

3.       (Vision) Envision things as wonderful they can be, not as they are, and then strive to create positive change toward these envisioned goals. All great
    accomplishments started as a vision in someone’s imagination, a vision that others could not see.

Where there is no vision, there is no hope.
George Washington Carver

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited.
Albert Einstein

Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.
Albert Einstein

Peace as a goal is an ideal which will not be contested by any government or nation, not even the most belligerent.
Aung San Suu Kyi

Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better.
Florence Nightingale

The objects of the present life fill the human eye with a false magnification because of their immediacy.
William Wilberforce

The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.
Albert Einstein

Ideas have unhinged the gates of empires.
Paul Harris

Civil and political rights are critical, but not often the real problem for the destitute sick. My patients in Haiti can now vote but they can't get medical care or clean water.
Paul Farmer

Let us make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow's reality.
Malala Yousafzai

4.       (Obstacles) Realize that obstacles are not barriers to your goals, but opportunities for growth and challenges to enrich your self-confidence by mastering
    new skills. A person having reached a goal without overcoming obstacles has learned nothing and accomplished even less. Conquered obstacles are the
    only qualifying credentials of heroes and a measure of one's commitment and leadership.

I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.
Booker T. Washington

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In every country, politics is considered to be a waste of time.
Malala Yousafzai

Some people only ask others to do something. I believe that, why should I wait for someone else? Why don't I take a step and move forward.
Malala Yousafzai

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.
Albert Schweitzer

Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly, even if they roll a few stones upon it.
Albert Schweitzer

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.
Nelson Mandela

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Nelson Mandela

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
Albert Einstein

Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that crreated them.
Albert Einstein

Do not fear the winds of adversity. Remember: A kite rises against the wind rather than with it.
Author Unknown

We thought that we had the answers, it was the questions we had wrong.
Bono

Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.
Malala Yousafzai

5.       (Self-esteem) Enhance one’s self-esteem, not from the opinions of others, but from the compassionate causes one has embraced and the perseverance
    and courage expended toward their resolve.

There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that      there is a meaning in one's life.      Viktor E. Frankl      Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human.      Viktor E. Frankl

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt

You are never strong enough that you don't need help.
Cesar Chavez

As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world -- that is the myth of the atomic age -- as in being able to remake ourselves.
Mahatma Gandhi

The ultimate test of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and moments of convenience, but where he stands in moments of challenge and moments of controversy.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.
Booker T. Washington

I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.
Rosa Parks

Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.
Viktor E. Frankl

Aspire not to have more but to be more.
Archbishop Oscar Romero

It is very important to know who you are. To make decisions. To show who you are.
Malala Yousafzai

6.       (Character) Without regard to consequences, courageously fulfill the obligations of being human by respecting all life, defending the righteous, promoting
     peace, inspiring compassion, spreading joy, and sharing your assets* with those less fortunate.

As a human being, possessing education, talent, and recourses obligates you to help others less fortunate.
Arthur Saunders – Tuskegee Airmen

  Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
  Viktor E. Frankl

The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world; I am like a snowball -- the further I am rolled the more I gain.
Susan B. Anthony

When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?
Eleanor Roosevelt

Helping people in need is a good and essential part of my life, a kind of destiny.
Princess of Wales Diana

I was determined to achieve the total freedom that our history lessons taught us we were entitled to, no matter what the sacrifice.
Rosa Parks

One thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.
Albert Schweitzer

Whoever is spared personal pain must feel himself called to help in diminishing the pain of others. We must all carry our share of the misery which lies upon the world.
Albert Schweitzer

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
Mahatma Gandhi.

Non-violence…it is not a weapon of the weak. It is a weapon of the strongest and bravest.
Mahatma Gandhi

How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.
George Washington Carver

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. DesmondTutu

...instead of giving a rifle to somebody, build a school; instead of giving a rifle, build a community with adequate services. Instead of giving a rifle, develop an educational system that is not about conflict and violence, but one that promotes respect for values, for life, and respect for one's elders. This requires a huge investment. Yet if we can invest in a different vision of peaceful coexistence, I think we can change the world, because every problem has a nonviolent answer.
Rigoberta Menchu

Contrary to what certain governments say, human rights are universal. Arbitrary detention, torture and discrimination hurt the human dignity of anybody, whatever his or her country of origin, religion, descent, or any other ground.
Shirin Ebadi

  In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources, and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we    see today between human rights, democracy, and peace.
Wangari Maathai

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King Jr

Character is power.
Booker T. Washington

  During this journey of hopes and despairs, joys and sorrows, dreams and realities, I’m accompanied by people who believe in our fight... 
  Sonia Pierre

Not taking sides in concerns of human misery and injustice is taking a side. Not making a decision concerning action against human misery and injustice is making a decision. No one may remain neutral in such circumstances.
Roger F. Cram

It's stasis that kills you off in the end, not ambition.
Bono

I speak not for myself but for those without voice... those who have fought for their rights... their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated.
Malala Yousafzai

Reputation is the shadow. Character is the tree.
Abraham Lincoln

7.       (Courage) Honor and respect fear, for it alone offers you an opportunity to demonstrate courage.

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
Nelson Mandel

There would be nothing to frighten you if you refused to be afraid.
Mahatma Gandhi.

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.
Mahatma Gandhi.

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I live through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." . . . You must do the things you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt

I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do.
Eleanor Roosevelt

The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.
Eleanor Roosevelt

I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.
Rosa Parks

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius, and a lot of courage, to move in the opposite direction.
Albert Einstein

The only battles we will ever fight are the ones inside us.
Native American – Iroquois Tribe

If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.
Jimmy Carter

Silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor.
Ginetta Sagan

I say I am stronger than fear.
Malala Yousafzai

8.       (Perseverance) Never give up. Most perceived failures are not failures at all, but instead successfully completed stepping stones toward a goal. The only
     time you can fail is if you quit purusing your goals.

A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.
Mahatma Gandhi.

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.
Mahatma Gandhi

You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Failure is impossible.
Susan B. Anthony

I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.
Albert Einstein

The Tuskegee Airmen had an eleventh commandment, “We will not quit, no matter what!”
Col. Herbert Carter, Original Tuskegee Airmen

The only time we can fail is if we quit. Most perceived failures are only stepping stones being small problems encountered along the path to a goal. Obstacles are opportunities for growth, therefore, encourage and embrace them.
Arthur Saunders – Tuskegee Airman

The probability that we may fail in struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.
Abraham Lincoln

99% of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
George Washington Carve

You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can.
Jimmy Carter

…to my adversaries, from the purist intellectuals who search in the most profound… arguments to justify their discriminatory attitude…to the most primal ones who cannot hide their hatred and rancor. Their arguments and constant anger do not cause us to wane. On the
contrary, they inspire and fortify us, by showing us the way that is opposite to them, with no hatred or rancor, showing us what we should do. 
Sonia Pierre

So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the Trade's (slave trade) wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for Abolition. Let the consequences be what they would, I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition.
William Wilberforce

My heroes are the ones who survived doing it wrong, who made mistakes, but recovered from them.
Bono

9.       (Trust) Honor all commitments and obligations to everyone regardless of their stature. Your pledge should be as meaningful to a king as to a beggar, for
    the value of a commitment is determined from its source, not to whom it is directed.

You must not lose faith (trust) in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
Mahatma Gandhi

Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.
Booker T. Washington

Trusting only the trustworthy in not trusting at all.
Carol A. Ruggie

If they kill me, I shall arise in the Salvadoran people.
Archbishop Oscar Romero

10.     (Conflict) While engaging your adversaries, always maintain their dignity. This is the only road to lasting peace.

Unless both sides win, no agreement can be permanent.
Jimmy Carter

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
Abraham Lincoln

I do not like than man. I must get to know him better.
Abraham Lincoln

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The method of nonviolence seeks not to humiliate and not to defeat the oppressor, but it seeks to win his friendship and his understanding. And thereby and therefore the aftermath of this method is reconciliation.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Mahatma Gandhi

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Mahatma Gandhi

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
Mahatma Gandhi

Courtesy towards opponents and eagerness to understand their view-point is the ABC of non-violence.
Mahatma Gandhi

It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.
Mahatma Gandhi

I think that nonviolence is one way of saying that there are other ways to solve problems, not only through weapons and war. Nonviolence also means the recognition that the person on one side of the trench and the person on the other side of the trench are both human beings, with the same faculties. At some point they have to begin to understand one another.
Rigoberta Menchu

You cannot prepare for war and peace at the same time.
Albert Einstein

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.
Albert Einstein

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
Nelson Mandela

In the clashes between ignorance and intelligence, ignorance is generally the aggressor.
Paul Harris

To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.
Bono

11.      (Compassion) Give simply to increase the amount of goodness in the world - often without recognition or reward. Give more to others than you receive
     in return, and carefully sustain this inequity, with humility, as a distinctive characteristic of your leadership.

           The more one forgets himself - by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love - the more human he is.
           Viktor E. Frankl