If you’re feeling helpless, help someone. ”― Aung San Suu Kyi (from Freedom from Fear)
Some of the most relaxing weekends I have ever enjoyed were those I spent quietly with a sense of all work to date completed, and an absorbing mystery.
It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.
Government leaders are amazing. So often it seems they are the last to know what the people want.
To view the opposition as dangerous is to misunderstand the basic concepts of democracy. To oppress the opposition is to assault the very foundation of democracy.
In societies where men are truly confident of their own worth, women are not merely tolerated but valued.”(From a speech read on video on August 31, 1995 before the NGO Forum on Women, Beijing, China)
There is a special charm to journeys undertaken before daybreak in hot lands: the air is soft and cool and the coming of dawn reveals a landscape fresh from the night dew.
Every thought, every word, and every action that adds to the positive and the wholesome is a contribution to peace. Each and every one of us is capable of making such a contribution.
If ideas and beliefs are to be denied validity outside the geographical and cultural bounds of their origin, Buddhism would be confined to north India, Christianity to a narrow tract in the Middle East and Islam to Arabia.
My top priority is for people to understand that they have the power to change things themselves.
It is not power that corrupts but fear. The fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.
My attitude is, do as much as I can while I’m free. And if I’m arrested I’ll still do as much as I can.
I do protect human rights, and I hope I shall always be looked up as a champion of human rights.
Freedom and democracy are dreams you never give up.
War is not the only arena where peace is done to death.
Even one voice can be heard loudly all over the world in this day and age.
Since we live in this world, we have to do our best for this world.
The history of the world shows that peoples and societies do not have to pass through a fixed series of stages in the course of development.
The value systems of those with access to power and of those far removed from such access cannot be the same. The viewpoint of the privileged is unlike that of the underprivileged.
I’ve always tried to explain democracy is not perfect. But it gives you a chance to shape your own destiny.
I don’t understand why people say that I am full of courage. I feel terribly nervous.
I don’t want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism.
If I advocate cautious optimism it is not because I do not have faith in the future but because I do not want to encourage blind faith.
The people have given me their support they have given me their trust and confidence. My colleagues have suffered a lot in order to give me support. I do not look upon my life as a sacrifice at all.
This was the way I was brought up to think of politics, that politics was to do with ethics, it was to do with responsibility, it was to do with service, so I think I was conditioned to think like that, and I’m too old to change now.
The Nobel Peace Prize opened up a door in my heart.
Maybe it is something to do with age, but I have become fonder of poetry than of prose.
The democracy process provides for political and social change without violence.
One person alone can’t do anything as important as bringing genuine democracy to a country.
I think sometimes if you are alone, you are freer because your time is your own.
Human beings the world over need freedom and security that they may be able to realize their full potential.
We are not out to boast that there is so much percentage of growth per year. Our real concern is how it affects the lives of people, the future of our country.
Whatever help we may want from the international community now or in the future, we want to make sure that this help is tailored to help our people to help themselves.