Cannot swords be turned to plowshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien to the universal aspirations of our peoples than war and the threat of war?

The welfare of a people lies not in casting other peoples down but in peaceful collaboration.

"It is the ability when we look at issues of international peace and justice and freedom that we remember that dialogue does not hurt, that we can engage that we don't have enemies, people can disagree with us, but they are not our enemies at all and that we can make allies".

...We are in one world. We are one nation. And therefore, what’s common in between us, what should be common among us, is love and peace.

Those who cherish their freedom and recognize and respect the equal right of their neighbors to be free and live in peace must work together for the triumph of law and moral principles in order that peace, justice, and confidence may prevail in the world. There must be a return to a belief in the pledged word, in the value of a signed treaty. There must be recognition of the fact that national morality is as vital as private morality.

These long years of conflict have given fresh content to the ancient prophecy that no man, and no community, and no nation, is an island. This truth, borne in upon us by the necessities of our protection, is equally true for those problems which stretch beyond present differences. Those who live in the emerging community of nations will ignore the problems of their neighbors at the risk of their own prosperity. It may seem difficult to accept the fact that even lasting peace will not bring respite from world responsibility. But we can bring to the challenges which surpass conflict the same qualities of resolution and compassion that we have brought to the protection of freedom, then your generation can shape the great world society which is the ultimate purpose of peace.

A nation's hope of lasting peace cannot be firmly based upon any race in armaments but rather upon just relations and honest understanding with all other nations.

We are friends with almost every country on the planet. We are not enemies with anybody. We respect the views of those we do not agree with, even as we continue to defend ours as a responsibility passed down from our forefathers.

I believe that our hopes, but perhaps also those of the Pope, are based above all on one aspect, namely that the other is never an enemy: he is "other", "other than us", different and probably also has different existential positions, but he remains a child of God, a man, a created being, with whom it is always worth seeking dialogue to solve problems.

Yet, dare we be at ease? We are part of a world whose unity has been almost completely shattered. No one can feel free from danger and destruction until the many torn threads of civilization are bound together again. We cannot feel safer until every nation, regardless of weapons or power, will meet together in good faith, the people worthy of mutual association.

Everyone that you fight is not your enemy and everyone who helps you is not your friend.

Now, as a strong State, we can be ready to pursue a policy of understanding with surrounding States. We want nothing from them. We have no wishes or demands; we desire peace. ... No other people can need peace more than we.

The people of China are not our enemy. We do want to live in peace with China. No person in their right mind should want this relationship to end up in conflict or in war.