"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be…

“Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding” is a saying that has been printed on many images. The saying is from German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955).

Albert Einstein was interviewed by George Sylvester Viereck on the SS. Belgenland while docked in New York City, and this was printed in many newspapers on December 21, 1930:

I: It is curious to what extent great men are sometimes the slave of their bias. Not long ago I had a talk with Maurice Maeterlinck whom some call the Belgian Shakespeare. He said to me that he could never forgive the German invasion of Belgium, and that he believed that only the permanent occupation of the Rhineland by the French military could guarantee peace between France and her Western neighbor. He added, however, that he would gladly shake hands with two Germans, Gerhart Hauptmann and Albert Einstein.

Einstein: Maeterlinck is wrong, Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. You cannot subjugate a nation forcilby unless you wipe out every man, woman and child. Unless you wish to use so drastic a measure, you must find a way of settling your disputes without resort to arms.

Einstein gave the speech “War and Peace” before the New History Society, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York City on December 14, 1930, but the quotation does not appear to have been reported in the press at this time. The speech, with the title changed to “Militant Pacifism,” was translated by Rosika Schwimmer and published in The World Tomorrow on January 1931, but the quote does not appear in this excerpt.

Wikipedia: Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (/ˈaɪnstaɪn/ EYEN-styne; German: [ˈalbɛɐt ˈʔaɪnʃtaɪn] ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is widely held to be one of the greatest and most influential scientists of all time. Best known for developing the theory of relativity, Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics, and was thus a central figure in the revolutionary reshaping of the scientific understanding of nature that modern physics accomplished in the first decades of the twentieth century. His mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which arises from relativity theory, has been called “the world’s most famous equation”. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect”, a pivotal step in the development of quantum theory.
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1930–1931: Touring the US
In December 1930, Einstein began another significant sojourn in the United States, drawn back to the US by the offer of a two month research fellowship at the California Institute of Technology. Caltech supported him in his wish that he should not be exposed to quite as much attention from the media as he had experienced when visiting the US in 1921, and he therefore declined all the invitations to receive prizes or make speeches that his admirers poured down upon him. But he remained willing to allow his fans at least some of the time with him that they requested.

After arriving in New York City, Einstein was taken to various places and events, including Chinatown, a lunch with the editors of The New York Times, and a performance of Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera, where he was cheered by the audience on his arrival. During the days following, he was given the keys to the city by Mayor Jimmy Walker and met Nicholas Murray Butler, the president of Columbia University, who described Einstein as “the ruling monarch of the mind”. Harry Emerson Fosdick, pastor at New York’s Riverside Church, gave Einstein a tour of the church and showed him a full-size statue that the church made of Einstein, standing at the entrance. Also during his stay in New York, he joined a crowd of 15,000 people at Madison Square Garden during a Hanukkah celebration.

Wikiquote: War and peace
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. You cannot subjugate a nation forcibly unless you wipe out every man, woman, and child. Unless you wish to use such drastic measures, you must find a way of settling your disputes without resort to arms.
. Albert Einstein, From a speech to the New History Society (14 December 1930), reprinted in “Militant Pacifism” in Cosmic Religion (1931); also found in The New Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice, p. 158.

Newspapers.com
21 December 1930, The Herald (Miami, FL), pg. 27, cols. 4-5:
EINSTEIN LOOKS LIKE
SCULPTURE ON CHURCH
George Sylvester Viereck Interviews Famous German Authority On
Relativity While SS. Belgenland Is Docked Off New York and
Gives First-Hand Word Picture of Scientist.
PROF. ALBERT EINSTEIN
In a Dialgoue With George Sylvester Viereck

Place: The steamship Belgenland, docking at Twentieth street and North River, New York.

Present: Professor Albert Einstein and the interviewer.
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I: It is curious to what extent great men are sometimes the slave of their bias. Not long ago I had a talk with Maurice Maeterlinck whom some call the Belgian Shakespeare. He said to me that he could never forgive the German invasion of Belgium, and that he believed that only the permanent occupation of the Rhineland by the French military could guarantee peace between France and her Western neighbor. He added, however, that he would gladly shake hands with two Germans, Gerhart Hauptmann and Albert Einstein.

Einstein: Maeterlinck is wrong, Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. You cannot subjugate a nation forcilby unless you wipe out every man, woman and child. Unless you wish to use so drastic a measure, you must find a way of settling your disputes without resort to arms.

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Saul Benavides
@sbenavid
“Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. . . .” Albert Einstein. December 14, 1930
8:19 PM · Jun 10, 2010

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Nereide
@Nereide
“#Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. You cannot subjugate a nation forcibly unless you wipe out every man, woman, and child.”
- Albert #Einstein, in a speech to the New #History #Society (14 Dec 1930)
#scritturebrevi
#VentagliDiParole
9:26 AM · Nov 3, 2020

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Tibor M. Kalman
@kalmantibs
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”
— Albert Einstein, from a speech to the New History Society. December 14, 1930.
🕊️🇮🇱🇵🇸
#Peace #Israel #Palestine
4:17 PM · Oct 24, 2023