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 consists, very largely, in the fact of desiring it with all one's soul.

Nuclear arms kill many people all at once, but other weapons kill many people, little by little, every day, everywhere in the world.

The more freedom we enjoy, the greater the responsibility we bear, toward others as well as ourselves.

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

I would like to see the U.S. fighting another war, perhaps in addition to that against terror: a war on poverty, illiteracy, disease and environmental degradation. It is certainly within the power of your country to act on all of these fronts, but, unfortunately, your leaders have become obsessed with a single issue.

It is essential that justice be done, and it is equally vital that justice not be confused with revenge, for the two are wholly different.