28 quotes
Where there is no justice there can be no secure peace.
In Quest of Democracy (1991)
Please use your liberty to promote ours.
Please Use Your Liberty to Promote Ours (1997)
The true measure of the justice of a system is the amount of protection it guarantees to the weakest.
In Quest of Democracy (1991)
Each man has in him the potential to realize the truth through his own will and endeavour and to help others to realize it. Human life therefore is infinitely precious.
In Quest of Democracy (1991)
The root of a nation's misfortunes has to be sought in the moral failings of the government.
In Quest of Democracy (1991)
Tyranny does not crumble by itself. Freedom must be demanded and defended, by those who have been denied it and by those who are already free.
While a private individual may be bound only by the formal vows that he makes, those who govern should be wholly bound by the truth in thought, word and deed.
In Quest of Democracy (1991)
The good ruler sublimates his needs as an individual to the service of the nation.
In Quest of Democracy (1991)
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.
Freedom from Fear (1991)
War is not the only arena where peace is done to death. Wherever suffering is ignored, there will be the seeds of conflict, for suffering degrades and embitters and enrages.
Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech (2012)
As you look at me and listen to me, please remember the often repeated truth that one prisoner of conscience is one too many.
Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech (2012)
If suffering were an unavoidable part of our existence, we should try to alleviate it as far as possible in practical, earthly ways.
Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech (2012)
The peace of our world is indivisible. As long as negative forces are getting the better of positive forces anywhere, we are all at risk.
Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech (2012)
It is the duty of the government to make all our people feel secure, and it is the duty of our people to learn to live in harmony with one another.
To be kind is to respond with sensitivity and human warmth to the hopes and needs of others. Even the briefest touch of kindness can lighten a heavy heart. Kindness can change the lives of people.
Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech (2012)
But change is anathema to authoritarianism, which will tolerate no deviation from rigid policies. Democracy acknowledges the right to ...
Within the framework of liberal democracy, protest and dissent can exist in healthy counterpart with orthodoxy and conservatism, contained by a general recognition of the need to balance respect for individual rights with respect for law and order.
We have to all come together and create unity out of diversity that the destiny that [we ]build will be one that is right not just for now but for generations to come.
Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought Acceptance Speech (2013)
Investment that only goes to enrich an already wealthy elite bent on monopolizing both economic and political power cannot contribute toward égalité and justice — the foundation stones for a sound democracy. [...] Please use your liberty to promote ours.
Unless we are free from fear we will not be able to give our children the kind of future that we would like them to have.
Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought Acceptance Speech (2013)