Top 323 Quotes & Sayings by Aung San Suu Kyi

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi.
Last updated on December 3, 2024.
Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2021. She has served as the chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD) since 2011, having been the general secretary from 1988 to 2011. She played a vital role in Myanmar's transition from military junta to partial democracy in the 2010s.

A revolution simply means great change, significant change, and that's how I'm defining it - great change for the better, brought about through non-violent means.
At this age, I should be leading a quiet life.
The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for life and dignity. It is a struggle that encompasses our political, social and economic aspirations.
Regime is made up of people, so I do put faces to regimes and governments, so I feel that all human beings have the right to be given the benefit of the doubt, and they also have to be given the right to try to redeem themselves if they so wish.
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. — © Aung San Suu Kyi
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.
Democracy is when the people keep a government in check.
To be forgotten, is to die a little.
By helping others, you will learn how to help yourselves.
It is often in the name of cultural integrity as well as social stability and national security that democratic reforms based on human rights are resisted by authoritarian governments.
I think I should be active politically. Because I look upon myself as a politician. That's not a dirty work you know. Some people think that there are something wrong with politicians. Of course, something wrong with some politicians.
Human beings the world over need freedom and security that they may be able to realize their full potential.
One person alone can't do anything as important as bringing genuine democracy to a country.
We will not change in matters of policy until such time as dialogue has begun.
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.
The democracy process provides for political and social change without violence.
More people, especially young people, are realising that if they want change, they've got to go about it themselves - they can't depend on a particular person, i.e. me, to do all the work. They are less easy to fool than they used to be, they now know what's going on all over the world.
I am prepared to talk with anyone. I have no personal grudge toward anybody. — © Aung San Suu Kyi
I am prepared to talk with anyone. I have no personal grudge toward anybody.
I was a bit of a coward when I was small. I was terribly frightened of the dark.
I saw many aspects of the country which I needed to see in order that I might know what we need to do.
If you choose to do something, then you shouldn't say it's a sacrifice, because nobody forced you to do it.
If you want to bring an end to long-standing conflict, you have to be prepared to compromise.
I do not hold to non-violence for moral reasons, but for political and practical reasons.
I don't think of myself as unbreakable. Perhaps I'm just rather flexible and adaptable.
If you do nothing you get nothing.
There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk.
Humor is one of the best ingredients of survival.
Sanctions are not really an economic weapon.
If I were the blushing kind, I would blush to be called a hero.
I'm feeling a little delicate.
I was surprised by the response of young people because there is a perception that those younger than the 1988 generation are not interested in politics.
I don't want Burma to be a basket case forever.
The judiciary must be strengthened and released from political interference.
The Nobel Peace Prize opened up a door in my heart.
I don't want to be president, but I want to be free to decide whether or not I want to be president of this country.
I could listen to the radio and I had access to books from time to time. Not all the time.
Sanctions and boycotts would be tied to serious political dialogue.
History is always changing.
For me, 'revolution' simply means radical change.
Confidence-building is not something that can go on forever. If it goes on forever then it becomes counterproductive.
Human beings want to be free and however long they may agree to stay locked up, to stay oppressed, there will come a time when they say 'That's it.' Suddenly they find themselves doing something that they never would have thought they would be doing, simply because of the human instinct that makes them turn their face towards freedom.
We want to empower our people; we want to strengthen them; we want to provide them with the kind of qualifications that will enable them to build up their own country themselves.
There is so much that we need to do for our country. I don't think that we can afford to wait. — © Aung San Suu Kyi
There is so much that we need to do for our country. I don't think that we can afford to wait.
We always think that everybody can do a little bit more, if not a lot more.
My attitude to peace is rather based on the Burmese definition of peace - it really means removing all the negative factors that destroy peace in this world. So peace does not mean just putting an end to violence or to war, but to all other factors that threaten peace, such as discrimination, such as inequality, poverty.
Freedom and democracy are dreams you never give up.
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.
Peace as a goal is an ideal which will not be contested by any government or nation, not even the most belligerent.
I've always been strongly on the side of non-violence.
A more significant phase should mean serious political dialogue.
I don't want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism.
I have been free for more than a month. Some people may think that that is long enough. Others may think that that is not quite long enough.
Assuming the chairmanship of ASEAN isn't going to do anything about improving the lives of people. — © Aung San Suu Kyi
Assuming the chairmanship of ASEAN isn't going to do anything about improving the lives of people.
I wish people wouldn't think of me as a saint - unless they agree with the definition of a saint that a saint's a sinner who goes on trying.
People must work in unison.
Once serious political dialogue has begun, the international community can assume that we have achieved genuine progress along the road to real democratisation.
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.
Sometimes I think that a parody of democracy could be more dangerous than a blatant dictatorship, because that gives people an opportunity to avoid doing anything about it.
When we think of the state of the economy, we are not thinking in terms of money flow. We are thinking in terms of the effect on everyday lives of people.
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.
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.
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