While it is undeniable that many have been driven to immorality and crime by the need to survive, it is equally evident that the possession of a significant surplus of material goods has never been a guarantee against covetousness, rapacity and the infinite variety of vice and pain which spring from such passions. Indeed, it could be argued that the unrelenting compulsion of those who already have much to acquire even more has generated greater injustice, immorality and wretchedness than the cumulative effect of the struggles of the severely underprivileged to better their lot.

There is no hope without endeavor.

If you are feeling helpless, help someone.

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.

The people of my country want the two freedoms that spell security: freedom from want and freedom from fear.

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.

Calamities that are not the result of purely natural phenomena usually have their origins, distant and obscure though they may be, in common human failings.