When the Nobel Committee chose to honor me, the road I had chosen of my own free will became a less lonely path to follow.

I look upon myself as a politician. That isn't a dirty word.

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

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.

As long as there is no law in Burma, any individual here can be arrested at any time.

There can be no civil peace without the rule of law.

The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear