"Generally
speaking, the first nonviolent act is not fasting, but dialogue. The
other side, the adversary, is recognized as a person, he is taken
out of his anonymity and exists in his own right, for what he really
is, a person. To engage someone in dialogue is to recognize him, have
faith in him. At every step in the nonviolent struggle, at every level
we try tirelessly to establish a dialogue, or reestablish it if it
has broken down. When I say 'the other side,' that could be a group
of persons or a government."
-- Hildegard Goos-Mayr
"All
ideologies end up killing people. If you separate love from nonviolence
you turn nonviolence into an ideology, a gimmick. Structures that
are not inhabited by justice and love have no liberating or reconciling
force, and are never sources of life."
-- Jean Goss
"The
essence of nonviolence is love. Out of love and the willingness to
act selflessly, strategies, tactics, and techniques for a nonviolent
struggle arise naturally. Nonviolence is not a dogma; it is a process."
-- Thich Nhat
Hanh
"The
principle of nonviolent resistance seeks to reconcile the truths of
two opposites - acquiescence and violence - while avoiding the extremes
and immoralities of both. The nonviolent resister agress with the
person who acquisces that one should not be physically agressive toward
his opponent; but he balances the equation by agreeing with the person
of violence that evil must be resisted. He avoids the nonresistance
of the former and the violent resistance of the latter. With nonviolent
resistance, no invidual or group need to submit to any wrong, nor
need anyone resort to violence in order to right a wrong."
-- Martin Luther
King, Jr.