A number of peace symbols have been used in various cultures and contexts, one of the most ancient being the olive branch. The symbol of the dove and olive branch was used by early Christians and was later adopted as a secular symbol. It was popularized by Pablo Picasso in 1949 and became widely used in the post-war peace movement. In the 20th century the peace sign as it is commonly known today was designed for and adopted by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. The V hand signal and the peace flag became international peace symbols.
Read more about Peace Symbols: The Broken Rifle, The White Poppy, Roerich's Peace Banner, The Peace Sign, The Peace Flag, The V Sign, Paper Cranes, Fire, Shalom/Salaam, Gallery
Famous quotes containing the words peace and/or symbols:
“In time of war you know much more what children feel than in time of peace, not that children feel more but you have to know more about what they feel. In time of peace what children feel concerns the lives of children as children but in time of war there is a mingling there is not children’s lives and grown up lives there is just lives and so quite naturally you have to know what children feel.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“The use of symbols has a certain power of emancipation and exhilaration for all men. We seem to be touched by a wand, which makes us dance and run about happily, like children. We are like persons who come out of a cave or cellar into the open air. This is the effect on us of tropes, fables, oracles, and all poetic forms. Poets are thus liberating gods.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)