Aristide Briand

“Peace, if it is to be durable, must be general.”

“Among peoples who are geographically grouped together like the peoples of Europe, there must exist a sort of federal link.”

“Away with rifles, machine guns, and cannon! Make way for conciliation, arbitration, and peace!”

“This law of religious freedom is not a law of hatred, of reprisals against a religion; it is a law of freedom, of respect for all beliefs, of tolerance.”

“The peoples are united in a common destiny. From now on they are partners, and they must share good fortune and ill.”

“So long as there is no international police, I am not allowed to recommend to my country a measure of disarmament.”

“There is not one peace for America, one peace for Europe, and another for Asia, but one peace for the entire world.”

“The United States of Europe must be a moral union.”

“We ourselves were not solely responsible for the war; we were not the only ones to make mistakes. So it is with a clear conscience that we are working for a reconciliation of the peoples.”

“War... is an intermittent fever of humanity.”

“Gentlemen, peace for us is not a vain word. It is a word that means everything.”

“I say to Germany: we do not ask for your signature as a vanquished nation, but as an equal. We are here to talk, not to dictate.”

“It is necessary to organize peace.”