The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for life and dignity. It is a struggle that encompasses our political, social and economic aspirations.
There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk.
The democracy process provides for political and social change without violence.
To be forgotten, is to die a little.
For me, ‘revolution’ simply means radical change.
I don’t think you can work on feelings in politics, apart from anything else, political change can come very unexpectedly, sometimes overnight when you least expect it.
I do not hold to non-violence for moral reasons, but for political and practical reasons.
One prisoner of conscience is one too many.
It is often in the name of cultural integrity as well as social stability and national security that democratic reforms based on human rights are resisted by authoritarian governments.
Democracy is when the people keep a government in check.
I think, if you have enough inner resources, then you can live in isolation for long periods of time and not feel diminished by it.
I think it’s time for the Army to understand that power should be enshrined in the people if we are to be a genuine democracy and not in any particular institution or organisation.
Some of the best indicators of a country developing along the right lines are healthy mothers giving birth to healthy children who are assured of good care and a sound education that will enable them to face the challenges of a changing world.
If ideas and beliefs are to be denied validity outside the geographical and cultural bounds of their origin, Buddhism would be confined to north India, Christianity to a narrow tract in the Middle East and Islam to Arabia.
The good ruler sublimates his needs as an individual to the service of the nation.
I think one must take responsibility for one’s actions and one’s decisions. But one should never take – one should never assume that everything that happens for the good is achieved by one’s self alone.
Once serious political dialogue has begun, the international community can assume that we have achieved genuine progress along the road to real democratisation.
When you decide to follow a certain path, you should follow it to the end and not be diverted from it for personal reasons.
The basis of democratic freedom is freedom of speech.
History is always changing.