I can't take it seriously when people get excited and scream that religion is in danger, and similar stupidities.

I was a perfect housewife. Being a mother has always been the job I liked best. Absolutely.

As for the job of prime minister, I like it, yes. But no more than I've liked other work that I've done as an adult.

A nation' s strength ultimately consists in what it can do on its own, and not in what it can borrow from others.

If we offer something to Bangladesh, it's obvious that Bangladesh is offering something to us. And why shouldn't Bangladesh be able to keep its promises? Economically it's full of resources and can stand on its feet. Politically it seems to me led by trained people. The refugees who took shelter here are going home.

I examine the consequences later, when a new situation arises and I then face the new situation. And that's it.

For me it's absolutely the same - I treat one and the other in exactly the same way. As persons, that is, not as men and women. But, even here, you have to consider the fact that I've had a very special education, that I'm the daughter of a man like my father and a woman like my mother.