People ask me about what sacrifices I've made. I always answer: I've made no sacrifices, I've made choices.
Aung San Suu KyiRead
I think when the people in Burma stop thinking about whether or not they're free, it'll mean that they're free.
Interpretation
True freedom comes from a shift in mindset rather than just external circumstances.
Aung San Suu Kyi suggests that the concept of freedom is deeply intertwined with one's thoughts and perceptions. When individuals begin to focus less on the constraints of their situation and more on the potential of their spirit, they will find that freedom exists not just in physical terms but also in their mindset and approach to life. This highlights the power of mental liberation as a precursor to actual freedom in society.
In practice
In a speech about civil rights, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of mindset in the pursuit of freedom.
People ask me about what sacrifices I've made. I always answer: I've made no sacrifices, I've made choices.
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.
This was the way I was brought up to think of politics, that politics was to do with ethics, it was to do with responsibility, it was to do with service, so I think I was conditioned to think like that, and I'm too old to change now.
My top priority is for people to understand that they have the power to change things themselves.
If you want to bring an end to long-standing conflict, you have to be prepared to compromise.
Where there is no justice there can be no secure peace.
Do not act following customary beliefs.
We have this idea in our minds that there's this separation of church and state in America, which I think is a good thing. And we extend that to our politics - not just church and state, but it's also there's a separation of religion and politics. But of course there isn't.
The merest accident of microgeography had meant that the first man to hear the voice of Om, and who gave Om his view of humans, was a shepherd and not a goatherd. They have quite different ways of looking at the world, and the whole of history might have been different. For sheep are stupid, and have to be driven. But goats are intelligent, and need to be led.
You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. That's how prayer works.
The universe and the observer exist as a pair. I cannot imagine a consistent theory of the universe that ignores consciousness.
Being human is itself difficult, and therefore all kinds of settlements (except dream cities) have problems. Big cities have difficulties in abundance, because they have people in abundance.
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