Top 60 Quotes & Sayings by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

I believe together, with the OAS, everybody condemned the coup d'etat, and everybody is demanding that President Zelaya should go back to the presidency, and they should call for general elections and realize an election. That's what we want. And I believe that President Obama made the right decisions condemning the coup d'etat.

Here in Davos, it is generally assumed that there is now only one god - the market.

Brazil has rediscovered itself, and this rediscovery is being expressed in its people's enthusiasm and their desire to mobilize to face the huge problems that lie ahead of us.

Free trade is very important if we respect equality among nations.

We've advanced in the construction of a true free-trade area across South America... What's needed now is less rhetoric and more action.

Brazil does not want to become an exporter of crude oil. No. We want to be a country that exports oil byproducts - more gasoline, high-quality oil - and to strengthen the petrochemical industry.

I have known Evo Morales for many years, since the days of the union movement. From a historical and sociological standpoint, the election of Evo Morales is extraordinary, with great prospects and potential for the Bolivian people.

Since 1990, we have been building up the idea that democracy is the best way for sectors that feel socially excluded from politics to win power.

The thing is that we live in a presidential system with a parliamentary constitution. Congress has a lot of weight in Brazil, and the president cannot always do when he wants; he does what he can.

A war can perhaps be won single-handedly. But peace - lasting peace - cannot be secured without the support of all.

I learned during my term and in the presidency that we should not discuss about assumptions or insinuations. If one day I have to do something against the U.S., the first one to get to know what I was going to do would be the president of the U.S.

I took office as president in January 2003, and in April 2003, I sent to Congress my first proposal for tax reform. Some parts were voted on, with respect to federal taxes, and then it came to a standstill. Why? Because each state is interested in its own tax reform, has its own tax policy, and each state has its federal deputies and senators.

Brazil is a country that has rich people, as you have in New York City, as you have in Berlin or in London. But we also have poor people like in Bangladesh or in African suburbs.

In my opinion, the Doha Round is the most important thing that we can do to reduce inequalities, create opportunities, and develop the poorest countries, face up to the struggle against terrorism and strengthen democracy.

The financial system has to be regulated, we have to end with the tax havens, and it's necessary that the central banks in the world should control a little bit the banks' financing because they cannot bypass a certain range of leverage.

In Brazil, a poor man goes to jail when he steals. When a rich man steals, he becomes a minister.

No one has to agree with everything that someone else says. But in state-to-state relations, we have to understand that we can help each other much more doing it that way. We have to be more generous.

If, at the end of my mandate, all Brazilians have the possibility to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, I will have fulfilled the mission of my life.

Latin America is convinced that, starting with South America, our way forward is to consolidate the process of integration: not theoretical integration - the integration of speeches - but physical integration, with infrastructure, with roads, with railways, with communications, with energy.

They were two and a half decades in which Brazil had no capacity to invest in infrastructure. Just to give you an idea, in 1989, we had in Brazil about 50,000 project-engineering businesses. When I took office, there were just 8,000. Universities were no longer turning out engineers.

It is important to remember that I am not in the G-8; I am just an invited guest.

No one can reap the fruit before planting the trees.

I have suggested that Brazilian enterprises invest in Uruguay and Paraguay. These are small economies, so some things can be produced in these countries that will give them greater and more equitable involvement in the Mercosur game.

When President Kirchner complains, I often sympathise with him, because Argentina was deindustrialised, and it is perfectly normal for the president of a country to try to get industry back.

I don't need arms, and neither does anyone else... At the very least, a ban would prevent fights from turning deadly.

I know what unemployment means because I was unemployed for one-and-a-half years, and I know the drama that the worker and unemployed worker faces. I know the world of the labor union better than I think anyone else does.

You're going to be hearing a lot about one scrappy president.

If there was one last thing I could do in my life, it would be to help Dilma turn this country around, with the decency that the Brazilian public deserves.

Everyone is innocent unless proven otherwise.

My greatest desire is that the hope that has overcome fear in my country will help vanquish it around the world.

Venezuela needs to develop; economic growth is essential for the country after so many years of lagging behind.

I have stated publicly, I want the same things for Iran that I want for Brazil. I want them to use and develop their nuclear energy for peaceful means.

It is a coup because while the Brazilian Constitution allows for impeachment, it's necessary for the person to have committed what we call high crimes and misdemeanors. And President Dilma did not commit a high crime nor misdemeanor. Therefore, what is happening is an attempt by some to take power by disrespecting the popular vote.

What most surprises me about Brazil is the extent of the difficulties that we create for ourselves. We create a lot of legislation to control the Brazilian state itself, that this ends up meaning that things don't go with the speed any head of government would like.

I know how to move between political camps. When everyone in the world hated (Libyan leader Moammar) Gadhafi, I paid him an official visit. It caused an uproar - Lula's visiting the devil!

I respect the path Cuba chooses to take.

No one can wipe away the injustices of centuries in only eight years.

Well-fed people can enhance their dignity, their health and their learning capacity. Putting resources into social programs is not expenditure. It is investment.

When I see Messi - who is the best player in the world in my opinion - lose the ball, he runs off until he gets it back or commits a foul. Our guys lose the ball and fold their arms.

The growing use of biofuel will be an inestimable contribution to the generation of income, social inclusion and reduction of poverty in many poor countries of the world.

I will never tire from repeating my commitment to ensuring that every Brazilian can have breakfast, lunch and supper every day.

Fortunately, war in Latin America is usually waged only with words. The tongue is our most dangerous weapon. We talk too much!

If with so little we have done so much in Brazil, imagine what could have been done on a global scale, if the fight against hunger and poverty were a real priority for the international community.

A long time ago I learned not to put the blame for backwardness in Brazil on the US. We have to blame ourselves. Our backwardness is caused by an elite which for a century didn't think about the majority and subordinated itself to foreign interests.

Without Messi there isn't a team for Argentina, Messi is brilliant, different, with a strong mentality. Let's hope he doesn't change.

The production of fuel from basic food commodities is, in fact, unjustifiable.

No sustainable development, environmental harmony or lasting security will happen if we are unable to eradicate hunger and extreme inequality

This is the first global crisis that doesn't start in poor countries and it was caused by the rich countries. So it's necessary to take advantage of this crisis - the financial system has to be regulated. It's necessary that the central banks in the world should control a little bit the banks' financing, because they cannot bypass a certain range of leverage. And I believe that there's no other - more any reason for a G-8 group or any other "G." I believe that we should guarantee that the G-20 should be now an important forum to discuss the major economic issues of the world.

I am the son of an illiterate father and mother.

It is clear that Messi is on a level above all others. Those who do not see that are blind.

Only in my case, when my presidency ends, I will go back to my home industrial city town, 800 meters from my local trade union that projected me my political life. And if I fail, when I go back to my hometown, it's going to take another century for another worker, another member of the working class to reach the presidency, because people are going to say that the workers do not have the competency to run a country.

The fight against hunger and poverty is also predicated on the creation of a world order that accords priority to social and economic development.

Brazil is in a solid position. In the past, if the United States sneezed, we caught pneumonia. Today, if the United States sneezes, we sneeze too.

Hunger is actually the worst weapon of mass destruction. It claims millions of victims each year.

?I believe that it is very difficult in the world of today to continue with G-8 only without taking in account the importance of Brazil, China, India, many in the world economy, because these countries are great consumers, large consumers, and we're also becoming great producers, and also because we were better prepared than the rich countries for the nowadays global crisis.

Even strong as they are today, rich countries should have no illusion: nobody is safe in aworld of injustices.War will never bring security.War can only generate monsters: bitterness, intolerance, fundamentalism, and the damaging denial of current hegemonies.The poor must be given reasons to live, not to kill or die.

Every time he plays, Leo Messi reminds me more of Maradona, both left-footed and short, Messi is the best player in the world, along with Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo. For us it is not a surprise. Since he began to come and train with us and we knew we would go down this path. Someday I will explain that I was at the birth of one of the footballing greats: Leo Messi.

The true path to peace is shared development. If we do not want war to go global, justice must go global

All countries have problems with China's economic power.

Where there is hunger there is no hope. There is only desolation and pain. Hunger nurtures violence and fanaticism. A world where people starve will never be safe