881 Quotes by Kofi Annan

What is needed today is nothing less than a new consensus between alliances that are frayed, between wealthy nations and poor. The essence of that consensus is simple: We all share responsibility for each other's security.

Massive and systematic violations of human rights -- wherever they make take place -- should not be allowed to stand,

Beneath the surface of states and nations, ideas and language, lies the fate of individual human beings in need. Answering their needs will be the mission of the United Nations in the century to come.

This is the beginning of the process, not the end.

If the new commitment to intervention in the face of extreme suffering is to retain the support of the world's peoples, it must be -- and must be seen to be -- fairly and consistently applied to, irrespective of region or nation. Humanity, after all, is indivisible,

What is important is that we don't make a futile attempt to prevent people from crossing borders, ... The moving of people will continue.

I believe we should be seen as taking concrete steps to achieve the objective of two states living side by side in peace and security in three years' time,

Likewise, Security Council reform has, for the moment, eluded us, even though everyone broadly agrees that it is long overdue,

Can the state, which represents the whole of society and has the duty of protecting society, fulfill that duty by lowering itself to the level of the murderer, and treating him as he treated others? The forfeiture of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict it on another, even when backed by legal process.