Regime is made up of people, so I do put faces to regimes and governments, so I feel that all human beings have the right to be given the benefit of the doubt, and they also have to be given the right to try to redeem themselves if they so wish.
— Aung San Suu Kyi
The people have given me their support; they have given me their trust and confidence. My colleagues have suffered a lot in order to give me support. I do not look upon my life as a sacrifice at all.
Burmese authors and artists can play the role that artists everywhere play. They help to mold the outlook of a society - not the whole outlook, and they are not the only ones to mold the outlook of society, but they have an important role to play there.
I don't want to be president, but I want to be free to decide whether or not I want to be president of this country.
Books always help.
Dissidents can't be dissidents forever; we are dissidents because we don't want to be dissidents.
What does Burma have to give the United States? We can give you the opportunity to engage with people who are ready and willing to change a society.
I would like to have seen my sons growing up.
I don't think I have achieved anything that I can really be proud of.
I wish people wouldn't think of me as a saint - unless they agree with the definition of a saint that a saint's a sinner who goes on trying.
People keep saying I've changed. I used to be confrontational. But I'm - I haven't changed. It was - it's just that circumstances have changed.
What I have experienced is nothing compared to what political prisoners in prisons suffer.
I felt that it was my duty not to senselessly waste my time. And since I didn't want to waste my time, I tried to accomplish as much as possible.
I don't think you can work on feelings in politics, apart from anything else, political change can come very unexpectedly, sometimes overnight when you least expect it.
I think, if you have enough inner resources, then you can live in isolation for long periods of time and not feel diminished by it.
My opinion is the greatest reward that any government could get is the approval of the people. If the people are happy and the people are at peace and the government has done something for them, that's the greatest reward I think any government could hope for.
If I were the blushing kind, I would blush to be called a hero.
This was the way I was brought up to think of politics, that politics was to do with ethics, it was to do with responsibility, it was to do with service, so I think I was conditioned to think like that, and I'm too old to change now.
I've always been strongly on the side of non-violence.
If you want to bring an end to long-standing conflict, you have to be prepared to compromise.
I don't want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism.
I don't believe in professional dissidents. I think it's just a phase, like adolescence.
If I was afraid of being killed, I would never speak out against the government.
History is always changing.
One wants to be together with one's family. That's what families are about.
I was a bit of a coward when I was small. I was terribly frightened of the dark.
I haven't heard any music on the BBC World Service in a long time. Maybe I'm listening at the wrong times. But not one single piece of music.
You cannot compromise unless people talk to you.
As long as there is no law in Burma, any individual here can be arrested at any time.
In terms of the history of a far reaching movement, 20 years is not that long.
Sometimes I think that a parody of democracy could be more dangerous than a blatant dictatorship, because that gives people an opportunity to avoid doing anything about it.
I think sometimes if you are alone, you are freer because your time is your own.
Assuming the chairmanship of ASEAN isn't going to do anything about improving the lives of people.
Freedom and democracy are dreams you never give up.
A revolution simply means great change, significant change, and that's how I'm defining it - great change for the better, brought about through non-violent means.
In the end, I think people prefer the good to win rather than the bad.
I've been repeating ad nauseam that we in Burma, we are weak with regard to the culture of negotiated compromises, that we have to develop the ability to achieve such compromises.
I look forward to trying the Internet.
I think I was the healthiest prisoner of conscience in the world.
By helping others, you will learn how to help yourselves.
A family is very special. So when a family splits up, it's not good, it's never good.
Of course I regret not having been able to spend time with my family.
I am not unaware of the saying that more tears have been shed over wishes granted than wishes denied.
One should mature over 20 years.
It doesn't seem right for anybody to get so much attention.
Fundamental violations of human rights always lead to people feeling less and less human.
Sanctions are not really an economic weapon.
Maybe it is something to do with age, but I have become fonder of poetry than of prose.
The judiciary in Burma is not independent. It's widely known, everybody knows that.
In general people feel more relaxed about participating in politics. They aren't frightened as they used to be.
