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Beneath the surface of states and nations, ideas and language, lies the fate of individual human beings in need. Answering their needs will be the mission of the United Nations in the century to come.

— Kofi Annan Nobel lecture (2001)

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More quotes by Kofi Annan

You can do a lot with diplomacy, but with diplomacy backed up by force you can get a lot more done.

More than ever before in human history, we share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together. And that, my friends, is why we have the United Nations.

In today’s world, the security of every one of us is linked to that of everyone else.

Truman Library address (2006)

All our efforts to defeat poverty and pursue sustainable development will be in vain if environmental degradation and natural resource depletion continue unabated.

We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race. We all share the same basic values.

Simply Living: The Spirit of the Indigenous People (1999)

All Kofi Annan quotes →

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Kofi Annan (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.