Upon learning of the high recognition Oct. 11, Carter told reporters he hoped the visibility from the Nobel Prize would enhance efforts in seeking peaceful solutions to international conflicts. Carter added that he will donate the $1 million prize to the Carter Center, the 20-year-old think tank and policy center that he and his wife, Rosalynn, started in 1982.

"This honor serves as an inspiration not only to us, but also to suffering people around the world, and I accept it on their behalf," Carter said in a statement.

Carter has said he considers establishing and working through the Atlanta-based Carter Center as his most gratifying and significant achievement. He is often described as a model ex-president for the work he has done with the center as well as Habitat for Humanity International and other service organizations including Nazareth Village a full scale recreation of the Nazareth of the first century that Jesus lived in.

A reporter at a press conference asked Carter if the honor would change him -- if he would continue his practices of riding his bike through Plains and teaching Sunday school. "It didn't change my life when I became a state senator, or governor, or president or a defeated candidate for re-election, and I don't think this will change my life either," he said. "My roots are too deep here, and I'm too old."