Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Quotes from Liberty-vs-Tyranny.com

"We just want to be free."

“Fear is not the natural state of civilized people.”

"I always say that one has no right to hope without endeavor,"

"I'm a cautious optimist. I'm cautiously optimistic about everything."

"The case for human rights is hardly one that should need to be argued,"

"Repressed human beings are not the same as those who are free and secure."

"The democracy process provides for political and social change without violence."

"The case of human rights is the case of human dignity, human security, of human beings."

“It cannot be doubted that in most countries today women, in comparison to men, still remain underprivileged.”

"Human beings the world over need freedom and security that they may be able to realize their full potential."

"Peace as a goal is an ideal which will not be contested by any government or nation, not even the most belligerent."

"Sometimes I didn't even have enough money to eat. I became so weak from malnourishment that my hair fell out, and I couldn't get out of bed."

"Here is what I want most for my people: I want the security of genuine freedom and the freedom of genuine security."

"I think I should be active politically. Because I look upon myself as a politician. That's not a dirty work you know. Some people think that there are something wrong with politicians. Of course, something wrong with some politicians."

"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."

"It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it."

"We say that the problems of Burma are due to bad government, not because the situation in Burma is bad in itself. It is because of bad government that we are in such trouble. So it is like pouring water into a bucket with a hole in it."

"Every government must consider the security of the country. That is just part of the responsibilities of any government. But true security can only come out of unity within a country where there are so many ethnic nationalities."

"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've never been particularly concerned about my own freedom as such. This is not what we are working for. What we are concerned about is the freedom of political parties and the freedom of all the people of Burma."

"I don't think that political prisoners should be considered a danger at all, because I don't think political opposition in itself, political dissidence in itself, is a danger. It's how you handle the dissidence which will decide whether or not the situation becomes dangerous."

"Part of our struggle is to make the international community understand that we are a poor country not because there is an insufficiency of resources and investment, but because we are deprived of the basic institutions and practices that make for good government."

"We have faith in the power to change what needs to be changed but we are under no illusion that the transition from dictatorship to liberal democracy will be easy, or that democratic government will mean the end of all our problems."

"We are against violence because we think violence begets violence. And we look at it with a long-term point of view. We are not looking at it just in terms of the next month or the next year. We are looking at it in terms of the future of our country, and we think that for the future of our country it is not a good idea to encourage violence."

Compiled by Thomas George
editor@liberty-vs-tyranny.com/