Kofi Annan famous quotes

To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.
-- Kofi Annan

#Inspirational #Heartfelt #Frustrated

We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.
-- Kofi Annan

#Race #Skins #Different

Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope.
-- Kofi Annan

#Reading #Bridges #Misery

Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda. Our mission, therefore, is to confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity. Racism can, will, and must be defeated.
-- Kofi Annan

#Ignorance #Hands #Racism

The war on drugs has failed in West Africa and around the world
-- Kofi Annan

#War #Drug #World

Children are our future and if we use them in battle, we are destroying the future. We must reclaim them, every one of them, one at a time.
-- Kofi Annan

#Children #Battle #Use

Education is, quite simply, peace-building by another name. It is the most effective form of defense spending there is.
-- Kofi Annan

#Peace #Names #Defense

Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.
-- Kofi Annan

#Education #Teaching #Democracy

Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.
-- Kofi Annan

#Equality #Goal #Challenges

...there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women.
-- Kofi Annan

#Inspiring #Empowerment #Tools

We have the means and the capacity to deal with our problems, if only we can find the political will.
-- Kofi Annan

#Mean #Political #Problem

We need to promote greater tolerance and understanding among the peoples of the world. Nothing can be more dangerous to our efforts to build peace and development than a world divided along religious, ethnic or cultural lines. In each nation, and among all nations, we must work to promote unity based on our shared humanity.
-- Kofi Annan

#Religious #Effort #Understanding

Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.
-- Kofi Annan

#Education #Knowledge #Progress

Women themselves have the right to live in dignity, in freedom from want and freedom from fear. On this International Women's Day, let us rededicate ourselves to making that a reality.
-- Kofi Annan

#Reality #Want #Dignity

Access to a secure, safe and sufficient source of fresh water is a fundamental requirement for the survival, well-being and socio-economic development of all humanity. Yet, we continue to act as if fresh water were a perpetually abundant resource. It is not.
-- Kofi Annan

#Water #Humanity #Survival

Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation, and it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace
-- Kofi Annan

#Real #Rights #Long

We have to choose between a global market driven only by calculations of short-term profit, and one which has a human face.
-- Kofi Annan

#Faces #Globalization #Driven

Young people should be at the forefront of global change and innovation. Empowered, they can be key agents for development and peace. If, however, they are left on society's margins, all of us will be impoverished. Let us ensure that all young people have every opportunity to participate fully in the lives of their societies.
-- Kofi Annan

#Opportunity #Keys #People

When women thrive, all of society benefits, and succeeding generations are given a better start in life.
-- Kofi Annan

#Generations #Benefits #Succeed

To build a more healthy, peaceful and equitable world the classrooms of the world have to be full of girls as well as boys
-- Kofi Annan

#Girl #Boys #Healthy

The United Nations has long recognised that the imagination, ideals and energies of young men and women are vital for the continuing development of the societies in which they live. And since its inception in 1948, AIESEC has contributed to this development by serving as an agent of positive change trough education and cultural exchange.
-- Kofi Annan

#Men #Long #Imagination

There is no development strategy more beneficial to society as a whole - women and men alike - than the one which involves women as central players.
-- Kofi Annan

#Player #Men #Strategy

Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an idea that seems abstract - sustainable development - and turn it into a reality for all the world's people
-- Kofi Annan

#Future #Reality #Ideas

There can be no doubt that these attacks are deliberate acts of terrorism, carefully planned and coordinated and as such I condemn them utterly. Terrorism must be fought resolutely wherever it appears.
-- Kofi Annan

#September 11 #Doubt #September

If one is going to err, one should err on the side of liberty and freedom.
-- Kofi Annan

#Liberty #Sides #Should

If tolerance, respect and equity permeate family life, they will translate into values that shape societies, nations and the world.
-- Kofi Annan

#Respect #Tolerance #World

In an age where community involvement and partnerships with civil society are increasingly being recognized as indispensable, there is clearly a growing potential for cooperative development and renewal worldwide.
-- Kofi Annan

#Community #Society #Age

For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.
-- Kofi Annan

#Literacy #Humans

Acquiring literacy is an empowering process, enabling millions to enjoy access to knowledge and information which broadens horizons, increases opportunities and creates alternatives for building a better life.
-- Kofi Annan

#Knowledge #Opportunity #Empowering

Poverty devastates families, communities and nations. It causes instability and political unrest and fuels conflict.
-- Kofi Annan

#Family #Political #Community

Business, labor and civil society organizations have skills and resources that are vital in helping to build a more robust global community.
-- Kofi Annan

#Organization #Skills #Community

People of different religions and cultures live side by side in almost every part of the world, and most of us have overlapping identities which unite us with very different groups. We can love what we are, without hating what – and who – we are not. We can thrive in our own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings.
-- Kofi Annan

#Hate #Teaching #People

In an era of globalisation, AIESEC's programmes have helped young people around the world to develop a broader understanding of cultural socio-economic and business management issues.
-- Kofi Annan

#Issues #People #Understanding

Contrary to popular belief, we do not face a choice between economy and ecology, It is often said that protecting the environment would constrain or even undermine economic growth. In fact, the opposite is true: unless we protect resources and the earth's natural capital, we shall not be able to sustain economic growth.
-- Kofi Annan

#Opposites #Choices #Growth

Founded on the principles of private initiative, entrepreneurship and self-employment, underpinned by the values of democracy, equality and solidarity, the co-operative movement can help pave the way to a more just and inclusive economic order.
-- Kofi Annan

#Self #Order #Entrepreneur

The Millennium Development Goals can be met by 2015, but only if all involved break with business as usual and dramatically accelerate and scale up action now.
-- Kofi Annan

#Goal #Usual #Development

Open markets offer the only realistic hope of pulling billions of people in developing countries out of abject poverty, while sustaining prosperity in the industrialized world.
-- Kofi Annan

#Country #People #History

Young people should be at the forefront of global change and innovation. Empowered, they can be key agents for development and peace.
-- Kofi Annan

#Keys #People #Innovation

It is my aspiration that health finally will be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for.
-- Kofi Annan

#Blessing #Human Rights #Aspiration

Microfinance recognizes that poor people are remarkable reservoirs of energy and knowledge
-- Kofi Annan

#People #Energy #Poor

We will not enjoy security without development, we will not enjoy development without security, and we will not enjoy either without respect for human rights.
-- Kofi Annan

#Rights #Development #Enjoy

Education is a human right with immense power to transform
-- Kofi Annan

#Humans

It is within the family that children learn the values that will guide them for the rest of their lives. It is within the family that they form their earliest relationships, learn to communicate with others and interact with the world around them. It is within the family that the notion of human rights becomes a reality lived on a daily basis. If tolerance, respect and equity permeate family life, they will translate into values that shape societies, nations and the world.
-- Kofi Annan

#Children #Reality #Rights

Microfinance recognizes that poor people are remarkable reservoirs of energy and knowledge, posing an untapped opportunity to create markets, bring people in from the margins and give them the tools with which to help themselves.
-- Kofi Annan

#Opportunity #People #Giving

I am often asked what can people do to become a good global citizen? I reply that it begins in your own community.
-- Kofi Annan

#People #Community #Citizens

It is impossible to realize our goals while discriminating against half the human race. As study after study has taught us, there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women.
-- Kofi Annan

#Race #Goal #Empowerment

Slavery was, in a very real sense, the first international human rights issue to come to the fore. It led to the adoption of the first human rights laws and to the creation of the first human rights non-governmenta l organization. And yet despite the efforts of the international community to combat this abhorrent practice, it is still widely prevalent in all its insidious forms, old and new.
-- Kofi Annan

#Real #Rights #Law

Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.
-- Kofi Annan

#Children #Mean #Men

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... For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.... Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.
-- Kofi Annan

#Children #Block #Mean

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.
-- Kofi Annan

#Block #Bridges #Essentials

To educate girls is to reduce poverty
-- Kofi Annan

#Girl #Poverty #Educate

Human rights education is much more than a lesson in schools or a theme for a day; it is a process to equip people with the tools they need to live lives of security and dignity. On this International Human Rights Day, let us continue to work together to develop and nurture in future generations a culture of human rights, to promote freedom, security and peace in all nations.
-- Kofi Annan

#Live Life #School #Rights

Any society that does not succeed in tapping into the energy and creativity of its youth will be left behind.
-- Kofi Annan

#Creativity #Energy #Doe

This is a day on which we pay our respects to those who have endured the unimaginable. This is an occasion for the world to speak up against the unspeakable. It is long overdue that a day be dedicated to remembering and supporting the many victims and survivors of torture around the world.
-- Kofi Annan

#Long #Survivor #World

Microfinance is an idea whose time has come.
-- Kofi Annan

#Ideas #Microfinance #Microcredit

If information and knowledge are central to democracy, they are the conditions for development.
-- Kofi Annan

#Democracy #Progress #Development

More than ever before in human history, we share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together. And that, my friends, is why we have the United Nations.
-- Kofi Annan

#Destiny #Together #Faces

More countries have understood that women's equality is a prerequisite for development.
-- Kofi Annan

#Country #Equality #Reality

Let us be good stewards of the Earth we inherited. All of us have to share the Earth's fragile ecosystems and precious resources, and each of us has a role to play in preserving them. If we are to go on living together on this earth, we must all be responsible for it.
-- Kofi Annan

#Teamwork #Ecosystems #Play

literacy is at the heart of sustainable development
-- Kofi Annan

#Educational #Heart #Development

Whether our task is fighting poverty, stemming the spread of disease or saving innocent lives from mass murder, we have seen that we cannot succeed without the leadership of the strong and the engagement of all.
-- Kofi Annan

#Strong #Fighting #Disease

If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever.
-- Kofi Annan

#Thinking #Helping Others #Volunteer

We cannot wait for governments to do it all. Globalization operates on Internet time. Governments tend to be slow moving by nature, because they have to build political support for every step.
-- Kofi Annan

#Moving #Government #Political

If we are to make poverty history, we must have the active participation of States, civil society and the private sector, as well as individual volunteers.
-- Kofi Annan

#Helping Others #Volunteer #Poverty

In the 21st century, I believe the mission of the United Nations will be defined by a new, more profound awareness of the sanctity and dignity of every human life, regardless of race or religion.
-- Kofi Annan

#Believe #Race #Profound

Literacy unlocks the door to learning throughout life, is essential to development and health, and opens the way for democratic participation and active citizenship.
-- Kofi Annan

#Educational #Doors #Way

The happiness of any society begins with the well being of the families that live in it.
-- Kofi Annan

#Society #Well Being #Wells

I urge you to celebrate the extraordinary courage and contributions of refugees past and present.
-- Kofi Annan

#Past #Celebrate #Refugee

No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts off from its youth severs its lifeline.
-- Kofi Annan

#Cutting #People #Society

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

#Perseverance #Men #Capable

We shall not defeat any of the infectious diseases that plague the developing world until we have also won the battle for safe drinking water, sanitation, and basic health care.
-- Kofi Annan

#Drinking #Water #Battle

...let us recognize that extreme poverty anywhere is a threat to human security everywhere. Let us recall that poverty is a denial of human rights. For the first time in history, in this age of unprecedented wealth and technical prowess, we have the power to save humanity from this shameful scourge. Let us summon the will to do it.
-- Kofi Annan

#Rights #Humanity #Age

The global HIV/AIDS epidemic is an unprecedented crisis that requires an unprecedented response. In particular it requires solidarity - between the healthy and the sick, between rich and poor, and above all, between richer and poorer nations. We have 30 million orphans already. How many more do we have to get, to wake up?
-- Kofi Annan

#Fighting #Epidemics #Sick

Let us all reaffirm our commitment to improving the well- being of families throughout the world.
-- Kofi Annan

#Family #Commitment #World

The preservation of biodiversity is not just a job for governments. International and non-governmental organisations, the private sector and each and every individual have a role to play in changing entrenched outlooks and ending destructive patterns of behaviour
-- Kofi Annan

#Jobs #Play #Government

No one is born a good citizen or a good democrat or a good leader; it takes time and education.
-- Kofi Annan

#Leader #Citizens #Born

We were all children once. And we all share the desire for the well-being of our children, which has always been and will continue to be the most universally cherished aspiration of humankind.
-- Kofi Annan

#Children #Desire #Share

On this International Day of Peace, let us all honor those who have suffered from violence. Let us hold in our hearts the ideal of peace.
-- Kofi Annan

#Heart #Honor #Violence

World Health Day is an opportunity to highlight the problem, but above all, to stimulate action. It is an occasion to call on all partners - governments, international donors, civil society, the private sector, the media, families and individuals alike - to develop sustainable activities for the survival, health and well-being of mothers and children. On this World Health Day, let us rededicate ourselves to that mission.
-- Kofi Annan

#Mother #Children #Health

A world government can intervene militarily in the internal affairs of any nation when it disapproves of their activities.
-- Kofi Annan

#Freedom #Government #World

Justice has taken its course and the authority and legitimacy of the legal process must be respected.
-- Kofi Annan

#Taken #Justice #Authority

Invite politicians to dinner and let them tell the world how delicious it is. . . . They will proudly go around and say, 'I ate crickets, I ate locusts, and they were delicious.'
-- Kofi Annan

#World #Dinner #Politician

Achieving the MDGs is not optional; it is an essential investment in a safer, more human and prosperous world
-- Kofi Annan

#Mdgs #Essentials #World

Under international law, the responsibility for protecting civilians in conflict falls on the belligerents. Under military occupation, responsibility for the welfare of the population falls on the occupiers.
-- Kofi Annan

#Military #Fall #Responsibility

The Lord had the wonderful advantage of being able to work alone. Answering why he had not implemented organizational reforms after five months when 'God created the universe in seven day
-- Kofi Annan

#Work #Reform #Able

In a world of plenty, continued suffering is a terrible stain on our conscience. It is inexcusable that we not strive, with every resource at our disposal, to eliminate suffering.
-- Kofi Annan

#Change #Suffering #World

Human beings are not property. On the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, let us reaffirm the inherent dignity of all men, women and children. And let us redouble our efforts so that the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - 'no one shall be held in slavery or servitude' - ring true.
-- Kofi Annan

#Children #Men #Rights

From this vision of the role of the United Nations in the next century flow three key priorities for the future: eradicating poverty, preventing conflict and promoting democracy.
-- Kofi Annan

#Keys #Priorities #Vision

Peace is never a perfect achievement.
-- Kofi Annan

#Peace #Perfect #Achievement

Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope... Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition...
-- Kofi Annan

#Girl #Bridges #Agents

You are never too young to lead and you should never doubt your capacity to triumph where others have not.
-- Kofi Annan

#Doubt #Triumph #Should

Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifeline.
-- Kofi Annan

#Cutting #People #Youth

On this International Day of Peace, let us dare to imagine a world free of conflict and violence
-- Kofi Annan

#World #Violence #Conflict

Knowledge is power. Information is liberating,
-- Kofi Annan

#Information #Knowledge Is Power #Liberating

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

#Country #Healthy #Citizens

The invasion and occupation of Iraq is illegal.
-- Kofi Annan

#Iraq #Occupation #Invasion

The number one goal in resolving a conflict is to make sure both sides maintain their self-esteem. You don't hit a man on the head when you've got your fingers between his teeth.
-- Kofi Annan

#Self Esteem #Men #Numbers

Landmines are among the most barbaric weapons of war, because they continue to kill and maim innocent people long after the war itself has ended. Also, fear of them keeps people off the land, and thus prevents them from growing food.
-- Kofi Annan

#War #Land #Long

Education is the great equalizer of our time. It gives hope to the hopeless and creates chances for those without...
-- Kofi Annan

#Giving #Chance #Hopeless

We need to keep hope alive and strive to do better.
-- Kofi Annan

#Needs #Alive #Strive