Top 323 Quotes & Sayings by Aung San Suu Kyi - Page 3

I don't believe in professional dissidents. I think it's just a phase, like adolescence.

I think I was the healthiest prisoner of conscience in the world.

I've been repeating ad nauseam that we in Burma, we are weak with regard to the culture of negotiated compromises, that we have to develop the ability to achieve such compromises.

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.

In the end, I think people prefer the good to win rather than the bad.

Burmese authors and artists can play the role that artists everywhere play. They help to mold the outlook of a society - not the whole outlook, and they are not the only ones to mold the outlook of society, but they have an important role to play there.

Books always help.

Dissidents can't be dissidents forever; we are dissidents because we don't want to be dissidents.

I look forward to trying the Internet.

I've always thought that the best solution for those who feel helpless is for them to help others.

Fearlessness may be a gift, but perhaps most precious is courage from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions.

The four basic ingredients for success are: you must have the will to want something; you must have the right kind of attitude; you must have perseverance, and then you must have wisdom. Then you combine these four and then you get to where you want to get to.

It would be difficult to dispel ignorance unless there is freedom to pursue the truth unfettered by fear.

Please use your freedom to promote ours.

It is not power that corrupts but fear.

The good ruler sublimates his needs as an individual to the service of the nation.

Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavour, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions, courage that could be described as 'grace under pressure' - grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure.

Fear is a habit; I am not afraid.

We have to choose between dialogue and utter devastation.

Kindness can change the lives of people.

To be kind is to respond with sensitivity and human warmth to the hopes and needs of others. Even the briefest touch of kindness can lighten a heavy heart. Kindness can change the lives of people.

If you want democracy, you have got to be prepared to accept the responsibilities of democracy. The people have to take part. They have to understand that they have the power to move things, and they must really commit themselves to change if they want it.

Each man has in him the potential to realize the truth through his own will and endeavour and to help others to realize it.

Weak logic, inconsistencies and alienation from the people are common features of authoritarianism. The relentless attempts of totalitarian regimes to prevent free thought and new ideas and the persistent assertion of their own rightness bring on them an intellectual stasis which they project on to the nation at large. Intimidation and propaganda work in a duet of oppression, while the people, lapped in fear and distrust, learn to dissemble and to keep silent.

I think by now I have made it fairly clear that I am not very happy with the word hope. I don't believe in people just hoping. We work for what we want. I always say that one has no right to hope without endeavor, so we work to try and bring about the situation that is necessary for the country, and we are confident that we will get to the negotiation table at one time or another. This is the way all such situations pan out even with the most truculent dictator.

It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man.

There is nothing to be gained by being unnecessarily nasty. Violence begets violence.

Saints, it has been said, are the sinners who go on trying. So free men and women are the oppressed who go on trying and who in the process make themselves fit to bear the responsibilities and uphold the disciplines which will maintain a free society.

If you are feeling helpless, help someone.

I do not believe that I'm sacrificing, in fact I feel very uneasy when others used the word sacrifice to describe my life. It sounds like I'm demanding returns for my investments. I chose to walk on this journey, because I solely believed in it and wholeheartedly decided to do so, and I'm willing and able to pay for the consequences.

It is not enough to sit and hope. You have to work in order to realize your hopes.

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.

Part of our struggle is to make the international community understand that we are a poor country not because there is an insufficiency of resources and investment, but because we are deprived of the basic institutions and practices that make for good government.

Every kindness I received, small or big, convinced me that there could never be enough of it in our world... Kindness can change the lives of people.

Government leaders are amazing. So often it seems they are the last to know what the people want.

I always say that one has no right to hope without endeavor.

Challenges mean opportunities as well.

Sometimes, 24 hours can bring a total revolutionary change.

My top priority is for people to understand that they have the power to change things themselves.

As I travel through my country, people often ask me how it feels to have been imprisoned in my home -first for six years, then for 19 months. How could I stand the separation from family and friends? It is ironic, I say, that in an authoritarian state it is only the prisoner of conscience who is genuinely free. Yes, we have given up our right to a normal life. But we have stayed true to that most precious part of our humanity-our conscience.

The main aim of the [political] dialogue should be to resolve the problems of the nation, not to find who is the winner and who is the loser. That's not what it's all about. It's to try and find an answer that is acceptable to all parties concerned, which would of course require some give and take.

We must contemplate what the meaning of being "educated" is. Some people think a person with plenty of degrees is an educated one. But I believe a person who can judge a situation correctly and make timely decisions is more important.

The search for scapegoats is essentially an abnegation of responsibility: it indicates an inability to assess honestly and intelligently the true nature of the problems which lie at the root of social and economic difficulties and a lack of resolve in grappling with them.

I don't like to be called a symbol. And I don't like to be called an icon. I will just say that I have to work very, very hard. So I'd rather be known as a hard worker. I don't think symbols do much, nor icons.

We will surely get to our destination if we join hands.

It is not a sacrifice, it's a choice. If you choose to do something, then you shouldn't say it's a sacrifice, because nobody forced you to do it

The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear

All right, your knees may be knocking but that shouldn't prevent you from going ahead and doing what you need to do.

There is no hope without endeavor.

I think that freedom is sometimes a state of mind. Sometimes, mind you, but not always.

The true measure of the justice of a system is the amount of protection it guarantees to the weakest.

The peace of our world is indivisible. As long as negative forces are getting the better of positive forces anywhere, we are all at risk.

It's good to know that the people of different countries are really concerned and involved in the movement to help Burma. I think in some ways it's better to have the people of the world on your side than the governments of the world, even if governments can be more effective in certain directions.

I think more women should be involved in politics for the good of the human race.

Fear is not the natural state of civilized people.

There is nothing to compare with the courage of ordinary people whose names are unknown and whose sacrifices pass unnoticed. The courage that dares without recognition, without the protection of media attention, is a courage that humbles and inspires and reaffirms our faith in humanity.

You should never let your fears prevent you from doing what you know is right.

If you give in to intimidation, you'll go on being intimidated

To the best of my knowledge, no war was ever started by women. But it is women and children who have always suffered most in situations of conflict.

Early childhood development has proved to be very beneficial and very cost-effective in societies where this is been tried. So let's not confine ourselves to primary education. Let's think of early childhood development and education as a whole.