Oscar Arias
Oscar Arias
Óscar Arias Sánchezwas President of Costa Rica from 1986 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2010. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts to end the Central American crisis...
NationalityCosta Rican
ProfessionWorld Leader
Date of Birth13 September 1940
CityHeredia, Costa Rica
country peace children
Peace consists, very largely, in the fact of desiring it with all one's soul. The inhabitants of my small country, Costa Rica, have realized those words by Erasmus. Mine is an unarmed people, whose children have never seen a fighter or a tank or a warship.
peace soul facts
Peace consists, very largely, in the fact of desiring it with all one's soul.
military men effort
How ironic for peacemaking efforts to discover that hatred is stronger for many than love; that the longing to achieve power through military victories makes so many men lose their reason, forget all shame, and betray history.
peace differences together
Peace is a never ending process... It cannot ignore our differences or overlook our common interests. It requires us to work and live together.
heart words-of-wisdom disease
The most deadly disease truly is the failure of the heart.
freedom responsibility bears
The more freedom we enjoy, the greater the responsibility we bear, toward others as well as ourselves.
people world arms
Nuclear arms kill many people all at once, but other weapons kill many people, little by little, every day, everywhere in the world.
courage taken reality
Hope is the strongest driving force for a people. Hope which brings about change, which produces new realities, is what opens man's road to freedom. Once hope has taken hold, courage must unite with wisdom. That is the only way of avoiding violence, the only way of maintaining the calm one needs to respond peacefully to offenses.
kindness good-hearted persons
The effect of one good-hearted person is incalculable.
common-humanity nuclear-disarmament race
The existence of nuclear weapons presents a clear and present danger to life on Earth. Nuclear arms cannot bolster the security of any nation because they represent a threat to the security of the human race. These incredibly destructive weapons are an affront to our common humanity, and the tens of billions of dollars that are dedicated to their development and maintenance should be used instead to alleviate human need and suffering
hate believe mean
I cannot accept that to be realistic means to tolerate misery, violence and hate. I do not believe that the hungry man should be treated as subversive for expressing his suffering. I shall never accept that the law can be used to justify tragedy, to keep things as they are, to make us abandon our ideas of a different world. Law is the path of liberty, and must as such open the way to progress for everyone.
country peace attitude
Peace is a never-ending process, the work of many decisions by many people in many countries. It is an attitude, a way of life, a way of solving problems and resolving conflicts. It cannot be forced on the smallest nation or enforced by the largest. It cannot ignore our differences or overlook our common interests. It requires us to work and live together.
war two preparation
War, and the preparation for war, are the two greatest obstacles to human progress, fostering a vicious cycle of arms buildups, violence and poverty.
dream peace hard-work
Peace is not a dream; it is hard work, and there is nothing naive, glamorous or simplistic about it.