Betty Williams
Betty Williams
Betty Williamsin the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland, is a co-recipient with Mairead Corrigan of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work as a cofounder of Community of Peace People, an organisation dedicated to promoting a peaceful resolution to the Troubles in Northern Ireland...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionCivil Rights Leader
Date of Birth22 May 1943
CountryIreland
done nobel hopefully
The Nobel Peace Prize is not awarded for what one has done, but hopefully what one will do.
children our-world government
Governments do not have the answers. Indeed quite the reversal. A lot of times they not only do not have the answers, they themselves are the problem. If we are committed to helping our world's children, then we must begin to create solutions from the bottom up.
believe nuclear world
We believe in taking down the barriers, but we also believe in the most energetic reconciliation among peoples by getting them to know each other, talk each other's languages, understand each other's fears and beliefs, getting to know each other physically, philosophically, and spiritually. It is much harder to kill your near neighbor than the thousands of unknown and hostile aliens at the other end of a nuclear missile. We have to create a world in which there are no unknown, hostile aliens at the other end of any missiles.
powerful compassion often-is
Compassion is more important than intellect in calling forth the love that the work of peace needs, and intuition can often be a far more powerful searchlight than cold reason.
strong weapons nonviolence
Nonviolence is the weapon of the strong.
arms
I like to say that arms are not for killing. They are for hugging.
bottom change solutions top turmoil works
Turmoil is everywhere, and the whole world is waiting for solutions to come from the top down. That's not how it works - community change from the bottom up makes a real difference.
assure dialog
I can assure you I'm quite sane and have proof that dialog 'works.'
although governing large men northern several
Men, once enemies, are now jointly governing in Northern Ireland. And although there have been several hitches, by and large it's working well.
although cause war women work
War has traditionally been a man's work, although we know that often women were the cause of violence.
assure children
We need to assure that we are nurturing our children and meeting their every need in this violent world.
fury minute peaceful people positive sets suffering transform within women
I don't think I'm yet peaceful because I have to struggle every day within myself when I see the suffering of the people of the world, the women and the children. And fury sets in. But I have to transform that and take it out and do something positive with it - but I have to do that sometimes minute to minute.
vacation failing when-all-else-fails
When all else fails, take a vacation.
kindness differences making-a-difference
To say that on a daily basis you can make a difference, well, you can. One act of kindness a day can do it.