A biography for Benazir Bhuttohasn’t been written yet.
“Democracy needs support, and the best support for democracy comes from other democracies.”
“Democracy is necessary to peace and to undermining the forces of terrorism.”
“Pakistan is heir to an intellectual tradition of which the illustrious exponent was the poet and philosopher Mohammad Iqbal. He saw the future course for Islamic societies in a synthesis between adherence to the faith and adjustment to the modern age.”
“As a woman leader, I thought I brought a different kind of leadership. I was interested in women's issues, in bringing down the population growth rate... as a woman, I entered politics with an additional dimension - that of a mother.”
“Clearly it's not easy for women in modern society, no matter where they live. We still have to go the extra mile to prove that we are equal to men. we have to work longer hours and make more sacrifices. And we must emotionally protect ourselves from unfair, often vicious attacks made on us via the male members of our family.”
“My father was the Prime Minister of Pakistan. My grandfather had been in politics, too; however, my own inclination was for a job other than politics. I wanted to be a diplomat, perhaps do some journalism - certainly not politics.”
“I found that a whole series of people opposed me simply on the grounds that I was a woman. The clerics took to the mosque saying that Pakistan had thrown itself outside the Muslim world and the Muslim umar by voting for a woman, that a woman had usurped a man's place in the Islamic society.”
“Military dictatorship is born from the power of the gun, and so it undermines the concept of the rule of law and gives birth to a culture of might, a culture of weapons, violence and intolerance.”
“Right now, they feel they have lost their voice, and their miseries have increased since my departure.”
“The military wants a system that protects its policies and privileges.”
“The political parties have unanimously rejected the one-man constitutional changes.”
“אני יודעת שהמוות מגיע. ראיתי יותר מדי מוות, מוות צעיר.”
“היו כוונותיי אשר היו, מעולם לא ביקשתי כוח. אני חושבת שהם צריכים אותי. אני לא חושבת שזה ממכר. אם כבר, אני חושבת שזה ההיפך הגמור מהתמכרות. אתה רוצה לברוח מזה, אבל זה לא מרפה ממך. זה שוב עושה את זה.”
“נוכחתי לדעת כי אלו שמשיגים שלום, לעולם לא מקבלים מכשולים כמובנים מאליהם, במיוחד כאלו שמורכבים מקנאה עיוורת, חוסר סובלנות ומסורת קשיחה.”
“דמוקרטיה זקוקה לתמיכה, והתמיכה הטובה ביותר לדמוקרטיה מגיעה מדמוקרטיות אחרות. אומות דמוקרטיות צריכות... לחבור יחדיו באיגוד במטרה לעזור אחת לשנייה ולקדם מה שנחשב לערך כלל־עולמי - דמוקרטיה.”
“בסופו של דבר, הנהגה מצריכה פעולה: העזה לנקוט בצעדים נחוצים אך לא פופולריים, קריאת תיגר על הסטטוס קוו על־מנת להגיע לעתיד מזהיר יותר.”
“The government I led gave ordinary people peace, security, dignity, and opportunity to progress.”
“I believe that democracies do not go to war; that's the lesson of history, and I think that a democratic Pakistan is the world community's best guarantee of stability in Asia.”
“All through the years of the Soviet empire, its Politburo held 'elections.' Of course, calling something an election and actually having it be an election are different things.”
“Whatever my aims and agendas were, I never asked for power.”