“Regimented minds cannot grasp the concept of confrontation as an open exchange of major differences with a view to settlement through genuine dialogue.”

If you are feeling helpless, help someone.

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 more precious is the courage acquired through endeavour.

It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.

The history of the world shows that peoples and societies do not have to pass through a fixed series of stages in the course of development.

In societies where men are truly confident of their own worth women are not merely “tolerated”, they are valued.

When I was in London a Kachin youth criticized me for not condemning the Burmese military for their offensive in Kachin State. I answered “condemnation is not the solution.” We want to build reconciliation, not condemnation.

One should mature over 20 years.

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

Kindness can change the lives of people.

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

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

There is nothing to compare with the courage of ordinary people whose names are unknown and whose sacrifices pass unnoticed.

The viewpoint of the privileged is unlike that of the underprivileged.

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

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

Fate and temperament are the names of a concept.

I can show you that I have played with just about every jazz musician, every African musician, every blues musician. It’s not like I’m cashing in on a false concept. This is what I do.

The concept is to weave in some emotion.

I’m fulfilled in what I do. I never thought that a lot of money or fine clothes – the finer things of life – would make you happy. My concept of happiness is to be filled in a spiritual sense.

Concepts of well-being for countries, for peoples and for individuals are changing. In such a world, to argue for rules that never change would be to deny the reality found in scientific knowledge and reasoned judgment.

A concept is a brick. It can be used to build a courthouse of reason. Or it can be thrown through the window.

I’ve always felt like I was observing everything, like I’m just looking out of the window, peeping how everybody is living and just penning about it, so I made the album about that concept.

In Italy, the concept of the family is very important.