“I know death comes. I’ve seen too much death, young death.”

The government I led gave ordinary people peace, security, dignity, and opportunity to progress.

Military hardliners called me a ‘security threat’ for promoting peace in South Asia and for supporting a broad-based government in Afghanistan.

So he manipulates and dangles some kind of carrot in front of the world all the time. This is not good for the people [of Pakistan], and I think the world has got it all wrong.

The forces of moderation and democracy must, and will, prevail against extremism and dictatorship. I will not be intimidated… Despite threats of death, I will not acquiesce to tyranny, but rather lead the fight against it.

What is not recorded is not remembered.

It’s never easy dealing with terrorists, but it must be done through a mixture of political, economic and administrative means.

Democracy needs support and the best support for democracy comes from other democracies. Democratic nations should come together in an association designed to help each other and promote what is a universal value – democracy.

In a way, a jail is a place where you can rest, read books and live with yourself.

Political dictatorship and social hopelessness create the desperation that fuels religious extremism.

Right now, they feel they have lost their voice, and their miseries have increased since my departure.

The Internet is the great equalizer.The technology which emanated from the Silicon Valley of California has more potential to ameliorate social inequality than any development in the history of the world, including the industrial revolution.

The Holy Book calls upon Muslims to resist tyranny. Dictatorships in Pakistan, however long, have, therefore, always collapsed in the face of this spirit.

The next few months are critical to Pakistan’s future direction as a democratic state committed to promoting peace, fighting terrorism and working for social justice.

I’m not into smoke-filled rooms. I don’t have the time for byzantine political intrigues.

Freedom is not an end. Freedom is a beginning.

We learned at an early age that it was men’s interpretation of our religion that restricted women’s opportunities, not our religion itself. Islam in fact had been quite progressive toward women from its inception.

Nobody knows [who they are] because when [terrorists] are dead and they are killed, they don’t have any ID.

I’m not pretending to be ingenuous; I know what I’m doing.

Nobody knows what you feel inside unless you tell them.

I could easily not be the person that people know.

If you’re happy, you eat. If you’re sad, you eat. You lose a job, you eat. You get a job, you eat. It’s, you know, it’s addiction.

The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don’t know.

I don’t know what my future is.

I did not know if the story was factually true or not, but it was emotionally true […].