Kofi Quotes & Sayings

For too long the development debate has ignored the fact that poverty tends to be characterized not only by material insufficiency but also by denial of rights. What is needed is a rights-based approach to development. Ensuring essential political, economic and social entitlements and human dignity for all people provides the rationale for policy. These are not a luxury affordable only to the rich and powerful but an indispensable component of national development efforts. — Kofi Annan

Peace is never a perfect achievement. — Kofi Annan

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

You saw the traumas that people lived through, and wondered what it will take to move us as a human community, as humanity, to help in these dangerous situations. — Kofi Annan

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

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

Unless the Security Council is restored to its pre-eminent position as the sole source of legitimacy on the use of force, we are on a dangerous path to anarchy. — Kofi Annan

All our efforts to defeat poverty and pursue sustainable development will be in vain if environmental degradation and natural resource depletion continue unabated. — Kofi Annan

Literacy is at the heart of sustainable development — Kofi Annan

A United Nations that will not stand up for human rights is a United Nations that cannot stand up for itself. — Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan's kangaroo court ... a clear and present danger to the war on terrorism and Americans fighting it all over the world. — Tom DeLay

There is no trust more sacred than the
one the world holds with children. — Kofi Annan

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

We can love what we are, without hating what, and who, we are not. — Kofi Annan

In some ways, the challenges are even more daunting than they were at the peak of the cold war. Not only do we continue to face grave nuclear threats, but those threats are being compounded by new weapons developments, new violence within States and new challenges to the rule of law. — Kofi Annan

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

I used to tell the story about as a young man in high school one of the professors came in and put a broad white sheet on the board with a dot in the right hand corner and said, "Boys, what do you see?" And we all shouted, a black dot. He stood back and said, "not a single one of you saw the broad white sheet, you all saw the black dot." He went on to tell us to focus on the broader picture, don't focus on the negative. — Kofi Annan

It may seem sometimes as if a culture of peace does not stand a chance against the culture of war, the culture of violence and the cultures of impunity and intolerance. Peace may indeed be a complex challenge, dependent on action in many fields and even a bit of luck from time to time. It may be a painfully slow process, and fragile and imperfect when it is achieved. But peace is in our hands. We can do it. — Kofi Annan

Does anyone believe that Kofi Annan scares Bashar Assad? — Elliott Abrams

The United Nations believes that acceptance of these principles will help the Palestinian people achieve their legitimate goal of an end to occupation and the creation of an independent and viable state, living in peace and security with its neighbors. — Kofi Annan

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

I am not afraid to dream. You first have to start with a dream. Build your castles in the air and give it foundation. Without a dream, you are not going to get anywhere. — Kofi Annan

You have to wake up every day ready to start again. — Kofi Annan

Access to safe water is a fundamental human need and therefore a basic human right. — Kofi Annan

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

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

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

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

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

I don't see a situation where one side will win militarily, take over Syria, and there will be peace and quiet, a clean victory. — Kofi Annan

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

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

George Clooney married Amal Alamuddin this year. Amal is a human rights lawyer who worked on the Enron case, was an advisor to Kofi Annan regarding Syria, and was selected for a three-person commission investigating rules of war violation in the Gaza Strip. So tonight, her husband is getting a Lifetime Achievement Award. — Tina Fey

Find your own 'sweet spot'. Take your talents and enjoy them, share them, expand them. — Kofi Awoonor

What governments and people don't realise is that sometimes the collective interest - the international interest - is also the national interest. — Kofi Annan

Drugs have destroyed many lives, but wrongheaded governmental policies have destroyed many more. I think it's obvious that after 40 years of war on drugs, it has not worked. There should be decriminalization of drugs. — Kofi Annan

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. — Kofi Annan

In the past we could afford a long gestation period before undertaking major environmental policy initiatives. Today the time for a well-planned transition to a sustainable system is running out. We may be moving in the right direction, but we are moving too slowly. We are failing in our responsibility to future generations and even the present one. — Kofi Annan

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

Iraq has a new opportunity to comply with all these relevant resolutions of the Security Council. — Kofi Annan

We need to create a world that is equitable, that is stable and a world where we bear in mind the needs of others, and not only what we need immediately. We are all in the same boat. — Kofi Annan

The United Nations is proud to have the Adopt-A-Minefield Campaign as a partner. — Kofi Annan

A citizen of the world in the fullest sense - one whose vision and culture gave him a deep empathy with fellow human beings of every creed and color. — Kofi Annan

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

In all these cases, part of the reasons for failure perhaps was not analyzing and assessing the true nature of the crisis, the resources that would be required, and exaggerated expectation of what the U.N. troops can do. — Kofi Annan

On the Gallows Once
Kofi Awoonor

I crossed quite a few
of your rivers, my gods,
into this plain where thirst reigns
I heard the cry of mourners
the long cooing of the African wren at dusk
the laughter of the children at dawn
had long ceased
night comes fast in our land
where indeed are the promised vistas
the open fields, blue skies, the singing birds
and abiding love?
History records acts
of heroism, barbarism
of some who had power
and abused it massively
of some whose progenitors
planned for them
the secure state of madness
from which no storm can shake them;
of some who took the last ships
disembarked on some far-off shores and forgot
of some who simply laid down the load
and went home to the ancestors — Kofi Awoonor

You are born to win. But to become that true winner, you must make living a winning life your priority. — Jones Kofi Apawu

The World is not ours to keep. We hold it in trust for future generations. — Kofi Annan

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

Globalization is a fact of life. But I believe we have underestimated its fragility. — Kofi Annan

Democracy is, in essence, a form of non-violent conflict management. If war is the worst enemy of development, healthy and balanced development is the best form of conflict prevention. — Kofi Annan

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

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

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. — Kofi Annan

Both Bush as well as Tony Blair are undermining an idea [the United Nations]. Is this because the secretary general of the United Nations [Ghanaian Kofi Annan] is now a black man? They never did that when secretary generals were white. — Nelson Mandela

To live is to choose. — Kofi Annan

We must bring a message of solidarity, of mutual respect and, above all, of hope. Business cannot afford to be seen as the problem. — Kofi Annan

If we do not get a universal acceptance of the constitution the likelihood of the violence continuing is there. If it had been an inclusive exercise
as when everybody had embraced the constitution and everyone saw his interest protected by the constitution
I think it would have been a rallying exercise. We are not there at this stage — Kofi Annan

I think that peacekeeping can do quite a lot, if they are given the right mandate with the commensurate resources to get the job done. — Kofi Annan

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

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

To look into some aspects of the future, we do not need projections by supercomputers. Much of the next millennium can be seen in how we care for our children today. Tomorrow's world may be influenced by science and technology, but more than anything, it is already taking shape in the bodies and minds of our children. — Kofi Annan

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

Unfortunately, very few governments think about youth unemployment when they are drawing up their national plans. — Kofi Annan

Time and again, when member states and the governments are faced with an insoluble problem, and they're under pressure to do something, that something usually ends up being referred to the U.N. — Kofi Annan

The future of peace and prosperity that we seek for all the world's peoples needs a foundation of tolerance, security, equality and justice. — Kofi Annan

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

Let us, above all, be clear that, without a convincing program of debt relief to start the new millennium, our objective of halving world poverty by 2015 will be only a pipe dream. — Kofi Annan

I was with Ted Turner when he came to see Kofi Annan - the Secretary-General of the UN - to announce his decision to put $1 billion to the service of UN projects and programs. — Maurice Strong

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

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

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

I often quote an African proverb that says: "The world is not ours, the earth is not ours, It's a treasure we hold in trust for future generations." And I often hope we will be worthy of that trust. — Kofi Annan

I believe that our world needs an instrument of global action as never before in history. I believe that the United Nations is the instrument for securing peace and for giving people everywhere, in poorer countries as in richer, a real stake in that peace by promoting development and encouraging cooperation. But the United Nations is only an instrument, an actor in need of props and cues from its directors, And so I will paraphrase Winston Churchill: Give us the tools-the trust, the authority and the means-and we will do the job. — Kofi Annan

Fierce national competition over water resources has prompted fears that water issues contain the seeds of violent conflict. — Kofi Annan

The international community ... allows nearly 3 billion people almost half of all humanity to subsist on $2 or less a day in a world of unprecedented wealth. — Kofi Annan

The fight against HIV/AIDS requires leadership from all parts of government - and it needs to go right to the top. AIDS is far more than a health crisis. It is a threat to development itself. — Kofi Annan

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. — Kofi Annan

The problem is this. The spread of markets outpaces the ability of societies and their political systems to adjust to them, let alone to guide the course they take — Kofi Annan

Everyday of your life is a another lesson. If you learn the lesson well and apply it; whether positive or negative, you determine what happens in your tomorrow. — David Kofi Awusi

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

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. Literacy is a platform for democratization, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity. Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition. 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

The long-lasting humanitarian impact of these inhuman weapons continues to deny communities the opportunity to rebuild long after the end of the conflicts. — Kofi Annan

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

Insecurity is love dressed in a child's clothing. — Kofi Annan

Today, no walls can separate humanitarian or human rights crises in one part of the world from national security crises in another. What begins with the failure to uphold the dignity of one life all too often ends with a calamity for entire nations. — Kofi Annan

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

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

The status quo cannot work. — Kofi Annan

The US-led invasion of Iraq was an illegal act that contravened the UN charter. — Kofi Annan

You can do a lot with diplomacy, but with diplomacy backed up by force you can get a lot more done. — Kofi Annan

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. — Kofi Annan

There are a great number of peoples who need more than just words of sympathy from the international community. They need a real and sustained commitment to help end their cycles of violence, and launch them on a safe passage to prosperity. — Kofi Annan

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

The world has lost a visionary leader, a courageous voice for justice, and a clear moral compass. By showing us that the path to freedom and human dignity lies in love, wisdom and compassion for one another, Nelson Mandela stands as an inspiration to us all. — Kofi Annan

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

Kofi Annan was the U.N. Under-Secretary General for peacekeeping operations. He had the responsibilities in regards to the mounting and operation of peacekeeping missions around the world. — Romeo Dallaire

His Holiness brings a wealth of experience to this exalted office. The United Nations and the Holy See share a strong commitment to peace, social justice, human dignity, religious freedom and mutual respect among the world's religions. — Kofi Annan

I was devastated by the atrocious bombings that struck London today. These vicious acts have cut us all to the core, for they are an attack on humanity itself. [7th July 2005 - on London bombings — Kofi Annan

We have to be very clear with the population and the countries we enter what we can do and what we cannot do. — Kofi Annan