881 Quotes by Kofi Annan

Now they have had this serious blow and I think we should try and help President (George W.) Bush and the administration, the American Red Cross and NGOs...who have been our partners in other crises around the world like the tsunami,

Nuclear conflict remains a very real, and very terrifying possibility at the beginning of the 21st century, ... This is the stark reality confronting you today.

Drugs have destroyed many lives, but wrongheaded governmental policies have destroyed many more. I think it’s obvious that after 40 years of war on drugs, it has not worked. There should be decriminalization of drugs.

These divisions in the international community – the Syrians bear quite a lot of the blame, but we have enabled it by the divisions between us.

No nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others. We all share responsibility for each other’s security, and only by working to make each other secure can we hope to achieve lasting security for ourselves.

Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories.

A developed country is one that allows all its citizens to enjoy a free and healthy life in a safe environment.

If you have a problem and you can’t find a solution, you meet again tomorrow and you keep talking until you find a solution. You can disagree with behavior or a particular position, but you do not resort to calling an opponent worthless.

Once you are really challenged, you find something in yourself. Man doesn’t know what he is capable of until he is asked.