Kofi Annan

Statesman

1938-04-08

Quotes by Kofi Annan

• The Lord had the wonderful advantage of being able to work alone.

  Read quote

• As long as inequality and other social problems plague us, populists will try to exploit them.

  Read quote

• I am a stubborn optimist: I was born an optimist and will remain an optimist.

  Read quote

• We seriously have to question the motivation of those people referred to as climate change sceptics, who are denying the evidence of human-caused climate change and preventing us from moving forward by spreading disinformation and supporting unchecked carbon pollution.

  Read quote

• Developing and newer democracies are much more susceptible to the tactics of populists and demagogues - they often do not have strong institutions, free press, or the infrastructure required to defend their nascent democracies.

  Read quote

• Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.

  Read quote

• Open markets offer the only realistic hope of pulling billions of people in developing countries out of abject poverty, while sustaining prosperity in the industrialized world.

  Read quote

• I urge the Iraqi leadership for sake of its own people... to seize this opportunity and thereby begin to end the isolation and suffering of the Iraqi people.

  Read quote

• Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.

  Read quote

• I don't share the view that the ICC is anti-African. The ICC is not putting Africa on trial. The ICC is fighting impunity and individuals who are accused of crimes.

  Read quote

• More countries have understood that women's equality is a prerequisite for development.

  Read quote

• In the 21st century, I believe the mission of the United Nations will be defined by a new, more profound awareness of the sanctity and dignity of every human life, regardless of race or religion.

  Read quote

• The United Nations, whose membership comprises almost all the states in the world, is founded on the principle of the equal worth of every human being.

  Read quote

• More than ever before in human history, we share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together. And that, my friends, is why we have the United Nations.

  Read quote

• There is no development strategy more beneficial to society as a whole - women and men alike - than the one which involves women as central players.

  Read quote