Aung San Suu Kyi

I think when the people in Burma stop thinking about whether or not they're free, it'll mean that they're free.

We are not out to boast that there is so much percentage of growth per year. Our real concern is how it affects the lives of people, the future of our country.

I don't want to be president, but I want to be free to decide whether or not I want to be president of this country.

Confidence-building is not something that can go on forever. If it goes on forever then it becomes counterproductive.

The search for scapegoats is essentially an abnegation of responsibility: it indicates an inability to assess honestly and intelligently the true nature of the problems which lie at the root of social and economic difficulties and a lack of resolve in grappling with them.

I think by now I have made it fairly clear that I am not very happy with the word hope. I don't believe in people just hoping. We work for what we want. I always say that one has no right to hope without endeavor, so we work to try and bring about the situation that is necessary for the country, and we are confident that we will get to the negotiation table at one time or another. This is the way all such situations pan out even with the most truculent dictator.

We want to empower our people; we want to strengthen them; we want to provide them with the kind of qualifications that will enable them to build up their own country themselves.

Of course I regret not having been able to spend time with my family.

I don't want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism.

Burmese authors and artists can play the role that artists everywhere play. They help to mold the outlook of a society - not the whole outlook, and they are not the only ones to mold the outlook of society, but they have an important role to play there.

Whatever help we may want from the international community now or in the future, we want to make sure that this help is tailored to help our people to help themselves.

If you choose to do something, then you shouldn't say it's a sacrifice, because nobody forced you to do it.

When you feel helpless, help someone.

A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man's self-respect and inherent human dignity.

Sometimes, 24 hours can bring a total revolutionary change.

Some believe that the only way to remove the authoritarian regime and replace it with a democratic one is through violent means. I would like to set the precedent of political change through political settlement, not through violence.

Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.

I think more women should be involved in politics for the good of the human race.

I've always thought that the best solution for those who feel helpless is for them to help others.

Fear is not the natural state of civilized people.

Fearlessness may be a gift, but perhaps most precious is courage from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions.