I've always said there's no hope without endeavor. Hope has no meaning unless we are prepared to work to realize our hopes and dreams but in order to that we do need to have friends. We need those who believe in us. Friends are those who believe in us and who want to help us whatever it is that we are trying to achieve.

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.

If you can make people understand why freedom is so important through the arts, that would be a big help.

I was heartened that people everywhere want certain basic freedoms, even if they live in a totally different cultural environment.

A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man's self-respect and inherent human dignity.

To have compromise you must first have dialog. That is the true path of democracy.

Assuming the chairmanship of ASEAN isn't going to do anything about improving the lives of people.