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Quotes by Arthur Henderson

Another essential to a universal and durable peace is social justice.
– Arthur Henderson
As a first step there must be an offer to achieve equality of rights in disarmament by abolishing the weapons forbidden to the Central Powers by the Peace Treaties.
– Arthur Henderson
But the standards of statecraft insisted upon the untrammeled claim of each nation to uphold its own view of its rights by force and to build whatever armaments it considered necessary for this purpose.
– Arthur Henderson
But to cut off relations with an aggressor may often invite retaliation by armed action, and this would, in its turn, make necessary some form of collective self-defence by the loyal members of the League.
– Arthur Henderson
Four years of world war, at a cost in human suffering which our minds are mercifully too limited to imagine, led to the very clear realization that international anarchy must be abandoned if civilization was to survive.
– Arthur Henderson
He would see civilization in danger of perishing under the oppression of a gigantic paradox: he would see multitudes of people starving in the midst of plenty, and nations preparing for war although pledged to peace.
– Arthur Henderson
I do not believe that the values which the Western democracies consider essential to civilization can survive in a world rent by the international anarchy of nationalism and the economic anarchy of competitive enterprise.
– Arthur Henderson
In almost every country there are elements of opinion which would welcome such a conclusion because they wish to return to the politics of the balance of power, unrestricted and unregulated armaments, international anarchy, and preparation for war.
– Arthur Henderson
In our modern world of interdependent nations, hardly any state can wage war successfully without raising loans and buying war materials of every kind in the markets of other nations.
– Arthur Henderson
In short, it may be said that on paper the obligations to settle international disputes peacefully are now so comprehensive and far-reaching that it is almost impossible for a state to resort to war without violating one or more solemn treaty obligations.
– Arthur Henderson
In some states militant nationalism has gone to the lengths of dictatorship, the cult of the absolute or totalitarian state and the glorification of war.
– Arthur Henderson
It has become impossible to give up the enterprise of disarmament without abandoning the whole great adventure of building up a collective peace system.
– Arthur Henderson
It has been said that since September, 1931, the world has been divided into wholehearted violators and halfhearted supporters of the Covenant.
– Arthur Henderson
It is because I believe that it is in the power of such nations to lead the world back into the paths of peace that I propose to devote myself to explaining what, in my opinion, can and should be done to banish the fear of war that hangs so heavily over the world.
– Arthur Henderson
Men and women everywhere are once more asking the old question - is it peace?
– Arthur Henderson
Moreover, war has become a thing potentially so terrible and destructive that it should have been the common aim of statesmen to put an end to it forever.
– Arthur Henderson
On the contrary, the characteristic element of the present situation is that economic questions have finally and irrevocably invaded the domain of public life and politics.
– Arthur Henderson
One of the first essentials is a policy of unreserved political cooperation with all the nations of the world.
– Arthur Henderson
Originally the League was forbidden to touch the subject of tariffs, and there was a strong predisposition to regard banking as a mystery that must be removed entirely from the purview of governments.
– Arthur Henderson
Perhaps the grimmest aspect of this great paradox is that the very nations that are chiefly responsible for starting and for maintaining the Disarmament Conference are also the nations that have begun a new arms race.
– Arthur Henderson
The Disarmament Conference has become the focal point of a great struggle between anarchy and world order,,,between those who think in terms of inevitable armed conflict and those who seek to build a universal and durable peace.
– Arthur Henderson
The drive toward economic nationalism is only part of the general revival of nationalism.
– Arthur Henderson
The first condition of success for the League of Nations is, therefore, a firm understanding between the British Empire and the United States of America and France and Italy that there will be no competitive building up of fleets or armies between them.
– Arthur Henderson
The forces that are driving mankind toward unity and peace are deep-seated and powerful. They are material and natural, as well as moral and intellectual.
– Arthur Henderson
The inevitable result was the balance of power, the arms race, the dividing up of the world into rival alliances, and ultimately, war.
– Arthur Henderson
The more the history of the World War and what led up to it is studied, the more clearly those tragic years become revealed as a vast collapse of civilization.
– Arthur Henderson
The nations must be organized internationally and induced to enter into partnership, subordinating in some measure national sovereignty to worldwide institutions and obligations.
– Arthur Henderson
The Peace Conference was the scene, or, shall we say, the first stage, in a tremendous struggle between the new forces, the new hopes and aspirations to which the agony of the World War had given birth, and the champions of the old order in patriotism and in economic relations alike.
– Arthur Henderson
The question is, what are we to do in order to consolidate peace on a universal and durable foundation, and what are the essential elements of such a peace?
– Arthur Henderson
The real difficulty is to make sure that such treaty obligations will be observed.
– Arthur Henderson
The vast upheaval of the World War set in motion forces that will either destroy civilization or raise mankind to undreamed of heights of human welfare and prosperity.
– Arthur Henderson
The world before 1914 was already a world in which the welfare of each individual nation was inextricably bound up with the prosperity of the whole community of nations.
– Arthur Henderson
The world wants disarmament, the world needs disarmament. We have it in our power to help fashion future history.
– Arthur Henderson
The years of the economic depression have been years of political reaction, and that is why the economic crisis has generated a world peace crisis.
– Arthur Henderson
Therefore, let us not despair, but instead, survey the position, consider carefully the action we must take, and then address ourselves to our common task in a mood of sober resolution and quiet confidence, without haste and without pause.
– Arthur Henderson
This is our world, and we must make the best of it.
– Arthur Henderson
Those nations have a very great responsibility at this juncture of the world's affairs, for by throwing their joint weight into the scales of history on the right side, they may tip the balance decisively in favour of peace.
– Arthur Henderson
Thus, the struggle for peace includes the struggle for freedom and justice for the masses of all countries.
– Arthur Henderson
Thus, there can be no real disarmament except on the basis of the collective peace system of the League of Nations.
– Arthur Henderson
To solve the problem of organizing world peace we must establish world law and order.
– Arthur Henderson
We cannot give up hope for the future of humanity because it is our destiny to shape that future for good or ill.
– Arthur Henderson
We had four years of world war which the peoples endured only because they were told that their sufferings would free humanity forever from the scourge of war.
– Arthur Henderson
What greater cause and what more splendid adventure can be set before the youth of the world than the endeavour to bring into being that age - old dream of saints and sages - the great Commonwealth of the World as the visible embodiment of the brotherhood of man?
– Arthur Henderson
Whatever we do or fail to do will influence the course of history.
– Arthur Henderson