A collection of Aung San Suu Kyi Quotes on age, authority, challanges, compromise, courage, democracy, effort, failing, fear, freedom, human rights, military, sacrifice, peace, struggle, values, violence, war etc.
147 Aung San Suu Kyi Quotes That Empower You
Quick Facts
Famous As:
Political Leader (Freedom Fighter) of Myanmar
Aung San Suu Kyi is a celebrated Burmese politician, author and diplomat. She is the leader of the National League for Democracy and the first State Counsellor, a position equivalent to Prime Minister. She is the first female to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar, the Minister of the President's Office and the Minister of Electric Power and Energy in Htin Kyaw’s cabinet. She also worked for the United Nations for a short period before being nominated as the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. She was kept under house arrest by the ruling military junta for almost 15 years from 1989 to 2010, and became one of the world's most prominent political prisoners. She was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, Rafto Prize, Jawaharlal Nehru Award, Sakharov Prize, Order of Australia, US Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom. An honorary member of Nelson Mandela’s elders, Aung San Suu Kyi went on to receive citizenship from various countries. We have collected her thoughts and sayings from her speeches, writings and general life. Here is a collection of Aung San Suu Kyi quotes on tyranny, freedom, equality, peace, harmony, sovereignty and democracy.
Regime is made up of people, so I do put faces to regimes and governments, so I feel that all human beings have the right to be given the benefit of the doubt, and they also have to be given the right to try to redeem themselves if they so wish.
A more significant phase should mean serious political dialogue.
Aung San Suu Kyi
Once serious political dialogue has begun, the international community can assume that we have achieved genuine progress along the road to real democratisation.
Human beings want to be free and however long they may agree to stay locked up, to stay oppressed, there will come a time when they say 'That's it.' Suddenly they find themselves doing something that they never would have thought they would be doing, simply because of the human instinct that makes them turn their face towards freedom.
My attitude to peace is rather based on the Burmese definition of peace - it really means removing all the negative factors that destroy peace in this world. So peace does not mean just putting an end to violence or to war, but to all other factors that threaten peace, such as discrimination, such as inequality, poverty.
Fundamental violations of human rights always lead to people feeling less and less human.
Aung San Suu Kyi
We want to empower our people; we want to strengthen them; we want to provide them with the kind of qualifications that will enable them to build up their own country themselves.
I've always been strongly on the side of non-violence.
Aung San Suu Kyi
The people have given me their support; they have given me their trust and confidence. My colleagues have suffered a lot in order to give me support. I do not look upon my life as a sacrifice at all.
My opinion is the greatest reward that any government could get is the approval of the people. If the people are happy and the people are at peace and the government has done something for them, that's the greatest reward I think any government could hope for.
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 often in the name of cultural integrity as well as social stability and national security that democratic reforms based on human rights are resisted by authoritarian governments.
Aung San Suu Kyi
I've always tried to explain democracy is not perfect. But it gives you a chance to shape your own destiny.
If you look at the democratic process as a game of chess, there have to be many, many moves before you get to checkmate. And simply because you do not make any checkmate in three moves does not mean it's stalemate. There's a vast difference between no checkmate and stalemate. This is what the democratic process is like.
Sometimes I think that a parody of democracy could be more dangerous than a blatant dictatorship, because that gives people an opportunity to avoid doing anything about it.
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.
I'm not the only one working for democracy in Burma - there are so many people who have worked for it because they believe that this is the only way we can maintain the dignity of our people.
Aung San Suu Kyi
The democracy process provides for political and social change without violence.
Aung San Suu Kyi
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.
The value systems of those with access to power and of those far removed from such access cannot be the same. The viewpoint of the privileged is unlike that of the underprivileged.
Aung San Suu Kyi
Whatever help we may want from the international community now or in the future, we want to make sure that this help is tailored to help our people to help themselves.
Aung San Suu Kyi
War is not the only arena where peace is done to death.
Fires of suffering and strife are raging around the world.
Aung San Suu Kyi
Burmese authors and artists can play the role that artists everywhere play. They help to mold the outlook of a society - not the whole outlook, and they are not the only ones to mold the outlook of society, but they have an important role to play there.
Aung San Suu Kyi
I've always said that the more coordinated the efforts of the international community are, the better it will be for democracy in Burma.
More people, especially young people, are realising that if they want change, they've got to go about it themselves - they can't depend on a particular person, i.e. me, to do all the work. They are less easy to fool than they used to be, they now know what's going on all over the world.
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.
Aung San Suu Kyi
We will not change in matters of policy until such time as dialogue has begun.
A revolution simply means great change, significant change, and that's how I'm defining it - great change for the better, brought about through non-violent means.
Aung San Suu Kyi
Peace as a goal is an ideal which will not be contested by any government or nation, not even the most belligerent.
I've been repeating ad nauseam that we in Burma, we are weak with regard to the culture of negotiated compromises, that we have to develop the ability to achieve such compromises.
We are not out to boast that there is so much percentage of growth per year. Our real concern is how it affects the lives of people, the future of our country.
When we think of the state of the economy, we are not thinking in terms of money flow. We are thinking in terms of the effect on everyday lives of people.
I was surprised by the response of young people because there is a perception that those younger than the 1988 generation are not interested in politics.
