My biggest disappointment was, of course, the coup attempts, ... The economy was proceeding very well, but in 1989 we had the most serious coup attempt and ... many of the investors who were set to come here had to tell me that they chose to go to other countries because of the uncertainty brought about by (the coup attempt.) If that had not happened, I'm sure our economy would just be booming today.

As our country bled . . . its leader's wife came to this podium piously to call for a new human order, this when thousands of Filipinos were political prisoners.

One must be frank to be relevant.

I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life.

I am not an icon of democracy. You are all, collectively, the icon of democracy.

The government cannot do everything all at once. It can't wave a magic wand and meet everyone's demands simultaneously.

It is not I who have been consigned to the bedroom of history.