"Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace"
About this Quote
The phrasing carries strategic moral pressure. “Our master” implicates everyone, including the speaker, and shifts the target from villains to conditions: propaganda, sectarian narratives, historical amnesia, willful incuriosity. Peace becomes impossible not because people are inherently violent, but because ignorance keeps producing the same triggers - misread intentions, dehumanized opponents, simplified histories. If you can’t accurately perceive a conflict, you can’t resolve it; you just manage it until the next flare-up.
Context matters: the Dalai Lama speaks as a displaced leader whose people’s struggle is routinely flattened into geopolitics. His insistence on nonviolence often gets romanticized as spiritual branding. This quote pushes back. It argues that nonviolence is not passive; it demands rigorous attention, education, and clarity. Ignorance here is also a critique of the global audience - the comfortable distance that lets outsiders consume conflict as noise. Real peace requires understanding sturdy enough to survive provocation, and that’s a discipline, not a sentiment.
Quote Details
| Topic | Peace |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Lama, Dalai. (2026, January 18). Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/where-ignorance-is-our-master-there-is-no-230/
Chicago Style
Lama, Dalai. "Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/where-ignorance-is-our-master-there-is-no-230/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/where-ignorance-is-our-master-there-is-no-230/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.









