Mahathir Mohamad Quotes & Sayings

I not only think but also look and study things carefully. When I travel around, I look at things carefully, make comparisons of what I see. I don't accept things at face value, you cannot trust what you hear or see. Don't jump to conclusions without thinking. — Mahathir Mohamad

I'm brash and abrasive but that's because I've noticed when people are nice and polite they never get anywhere. — Mahathir Mohamad

Once started, religious strife has a tendency to go on and on - to become permanent feuds. Today we see such intractable inter-religious wars in Northern Ireland, between Jews and Muslims and Christians in Palestine, Hindus and Muslims in South Asia and in many other places. Attempts to bring about peace have failed again and again. Always the extremist elements invoking past injustices, imagined or real, will succeed in torpedoing the peace efforts and bringing about another bout of hostility. — Mahathir Mohamad

I'm a fundamentalist in the true sense. That is to say, I follow the fundamentals of religion ... But for over 1,400 years people have been interpreting and re-interpreting the religion to suit their own purpose! ... These [extremist and terrorist acts] are not Islamic fundamentals any more than the Christians who burned people at the stake are fundamentalist. They are actually deviating from the teachings of the religion! — Mahathir Mohamad

Currency trading is unnecessary, unproductive and totally immoral. It should be stopped. — Mahathir Mohamad

Knowledge has always been important, of course. The ancient Egyptians did not raise the stones for the pyramids relying on the incantations of their gods. The waters in the irrigation canals of the great Indus Civilisation did not flow according to the laws of ignorance. Knowledge has always been power and wealth. — Mahathir Mohamad

History should remember Blair and Bush as the killers of children or as the lying prime minister and president. — Mahathir Mohamad

I cannot keep quiet even when I am a lone voice. — Mahathir Mohamad

If you can't be famous, at least you can be notorious. — Mahathir Mohamad

Some people say that we here have no freedom of religion, ... In reality, the people in that country are the ones who were forced to embrace a religion. — Mahathir Mohamad

Developing countries like Malaysia should have a say in changing the world financial system since we have faced the problems that it has caused. — Mahathir Mohamad

The Malays are spiritually inclined, tolerant and easy-going. The non-Malays, and especially the Chinese, are materialistic, aggressive and have an appetite for work. For equality to come about, it is necessary that these strikingly contrasting races adjust to each other. — Mahathir Mohamad

We need an opposition to remind us if we are making mistakes. When you are not opposed you think everything you do is right. — Mahathir Mohamad