“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 people of my country want the two freedoms that spell security: freedom from want and freedom from fear.

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.

If you can make people understand why freedom is so important through the arts, that would be a big help.

The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit, born of an intellectual conviction of the need for change in those mental attitudes and values which shape the course of a nation’s development.

With the right kind of institutions, starting with the rule of law, Burma could progress very quickly.

Kindness can change the lives of people.

Sometimes, 24 hours can bring a total revolutionary change.

There’s a vast difference between no checkmate and stalemate. This is what the democratic process is like.

How can you call it a sacrifice when you choose to do something because you believe in it?

Without a revolution of the spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration.

Peace as a goal is an ideal which will not be contested by any government or nation, not even the most belligerent.

Weak logic, inconsistencies and alienation from the people are common features of authoritarianism.

You may not think about politics, but politics think about you.

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 was given some Harry Potter books by a young friend. I wanted to know why young people liked it so much. And I noted that there were some values in Harry Potter that are common to many books that are popular all over the world. In the end,

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.

Space is certainly something more complicated than the average person would probably realize.

But often it’s a mechanical transformation, which isn’t as interesting, and you’ve got to be careful how you go about something like that, I think.

Often for me, if I hear a song I know, it clicks for me and I hear it in a different way and I think, “I could sing that song. I’ve got something to say about that song. Wanting to connect with an audience and wanting them to rethink songs.

When I draw something, I try to build some kind of history into it.

Every reader gets something different from a book and every reader, in a sense, completes it in a different way.

I still will sit down at the piano and play when I am wrestling with something emotionally or just want to move into the musical world.

Pour me something tall and strong, make it a Hurricane before I go insane.

I allow readers to fill in the details as necessary. But I don’t force kids to have to digest something they’re not mature enough or ready for yet.