I've always been strongly on the side of non-violence. Also, I think that if you use the wrong means, the ends themselves get distorted.

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.

When fear sets in, you don't trust others and when you don't trust anyone then you become selfish.

The best way to help Burma is to empower the people of Burma, to help us have enough self-confidence to obtain what we want for ourselves.

Human beings the world over need freedom and security that they may be able to realize their full potential.

I've never thought of myself as being particularly brave - I used to be frightened of the dark when I was small. And I'm not very good with dead rats and things like that. But I face what has to be faced and I hope as best as I'm able.

I do not like to encourage personalized politics, so we would not like it to be thought that just because certain political personalities were attacked, this means the situation is very grave. The true gravity of the situation comes from the fact that ordinary members of the NLD are repressed all the time. We don't want a completely paralyzed political organization, while a select few leaders are protected by international attention.