Kofi Annan

“The Arab Spring reminds me a bit of the decolonisation process where one country gets independence, and everybody else wants it.”

“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.”

“I urge the Iraqi leadership for sake of its own people... to seize this opportunity and thereby begin to end the isolation and suffering of the Iraqi people.”

“We cannot allow situations where leaders threaten war on television or on Twitter.”

“Shifting towards low-carbon energy systems can avert climate catastrophe while creating new opportunities for investment, growth, and employment.”

“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.”

“I have always believed that on important issues, the leaders must lead. Where the leaders fail to lead, and people are really concerned about it, the people will take the lead and make the leaders follow.”

“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.”

“Unfortunately, very few governments think about youth unemployment when they are drawing up their national plans.”

“What governments and people don't realise is that sometimes the collective interest - the international interest - is also the national interest.”

“I think it is important to speak out.”

“When economic conditions are difficult, people tend to be less generous and protect themselves; the question of solidarity doesn't mean much to them at that time.”

“Could you imagine if the U.N. had endorsed the war in Iraq, what our reputation would be like?”

“On climate change, we often don't fully appreciate that it is a problem. We think it is a problem waiting to happen.”

“The question is the morning after. What sort of Iraq do we wake up to after the bombing? What happens in the region? What impact could it have? These are questions leaders I have spoken to have posed.”

“Governments have to conclude a fair, universal, and binding climate agreement, by which every country commits to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.”

“I think it is not just the U.N. speaking, but the concept of a third party, a third party to a conflict speaking out. You know, sometimes saying, 'Stop, this is enough. This cannot be allowed to happen,' gives the victims and the people who are caught in that situation courage, encouragement, support.”

“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.”

“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.”

“I am a stubborn optimist: I was born an optimist and will remain an optimist.”