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 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.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a desire for personal freedom in decision-making, rather than the title of a position.
Aung San Suu Kyi's quote highlights the importance of individual freedom, particularly the freedom to make choices for oneself. It reflects a deep understanding that true autonomy lies not in holding power itself, but in having the liberty to decide one's own path, including whether to pursue leadership roles. This sentiment resonates with the struggle for democracy and personal agency against oppressive forces.
In practice
This quote would be perfect for a speech on the importance of personal liberty in democracy.
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.
The great battleground for the defense and expansion of freedom today is the whole southern half of the globe... the lands of the rising peoples. Their revolution is the greatest in human history. They seek an end to injustice, tyranny and exploitation. More than an end, they seek a beginning.
Nothing's riding on this, except the First Amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys f-k up again, I'm gonna get mad.
In the 20th century, imprisonment of writers practically comes with the territory.
When you lose your freedom, you lose, first and foremost, the opportunity to choose the company you keep.
Freedom is always just one generation away from extinction. We don't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. We have to fight for it and protect it and then hand it to them, so that they shall do the same, or we're going to find ourselves spending our sunset years telling our children and our children's children, about a time in America, back in the day, when men and women were free.
Land where my fathers died,_x000D_ _x000D_ Land of the pilgrims' pride,_x000D_ _x000D_ From every mountainside_x000D_ _x000D_ Let freedom ring!
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