“Democracy, like liberty, justice and other social and political rights, is not “given”, it is earned through courage, resolution and sacrifice.”

If I advocate cautious optimism it is not because I do not have faith in the future but because I do not want to encourage blind faith.

Fear is a habit; I am not afraid.

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.

Intimidation and propaganda work in a duet of oppression, while the people, lapped in fear and distrust, learn to dissemble and to keep silent.

There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk.

Challenges mean opportunities as well.

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.

This may well have made it more rather than less democratic than many countries today .

Is, I think, the ultimate indignity to the democratic process.

We need Trump to lead the liberal democratic order around the world.

Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Arabs can be elected to the parliament in a democratic election.

Although there is a strong desire for freedom in the countries of Eastern Europe, there is no democratic tradition, so that the risk of anarchy and chaos continues to exist.

The rooms I tend to be in are pretty democratic and the best idea wins.

Everything is completely democratic in this band so far and that is the way that we would like to keep it.

When you start getting into a full-band, democratic context the little things almost immediately get thrown out the window because you don’t think they’re important.