If ideas and beliefs are to be denied validity outside the geographical and cultural bounds of their origin, Buddhism would be confined to north India, Christianity to a narrow tract in the Middle East and Islam to Arabia.

We have to choose between dialogue and utter devastation.

In terms of the history of a far reaching movement, 20 years is not that long.

The history of the world shows that peoples and societies do not have to pass through a fixed series of stages in the course of development.

I don't think you can work on feelings in politics, apart from anything else, political change can come very unexpectedly, sometimes overnight when you least expect it.

We have been making constant efforts, all the time, to start dialogue with the SLORC, but you know it takes two. We don't want a monologue. We would like a substantive political dialogue among the SLORC, political leaders including myself, and leaders of ethnic groups-exactly as stipulated in the U.N. General Assembly resolution on Burma.

The true measure of the justice of a system is the amount of protection it guarantees to the weakest.