Hugo Chavez

My father and my mother were both teachers. They inculcated to us the importance of studies.

The immoral veto of the United States allowed the Israelis, with impunity, to destroy Lebanon. Right in front of all of us as we stood there watching, a resolution in the council was prevented.

We must confront the privileged elite who have destroyed a large part of the world.

I am convinced that the path to a new, better and possible world is not capitalism, the path is socialism.

We're not perfect, but we do have democracy.

We want to be brothers and sisters. We want respect and equality. Simon Bolivar, our father, said a balanced world - a universe - a balanced universe in order to have peace and development.

I love Jesus Christ. I am a Christian... I cry when I see injustice, children dying of hunger.

No part of the human community can live entirely on its own planet with its own laws of motion and cut off from the rest of humanity.

Venezuela is supporting tens of thousands of poor families in the United States with heating oil.

I've learned to appreciate the thinking of John Kennedy.

I'm not loved by Hillary Clinton... and I don't love her either.

I hereby accuse the North American empire of being the biggest menace to our planet.

There is no turning back.

We must reduce all the emissions that are destroying the planet. However, that requires a change in lifestyle, a change in the economic model: We must go from capitalism to socialism.

Long live the Unity of Latin America.

If the climate were a bank they would already have saved it.

The world needs a true leader, an Obama that promotes peace and understanding in the world.

Venezuela, with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, is a full member of Mercosur. And many other Latin American countries, CARICOM, Bolivia have expressed their support for Venezuela. The Arab League, the full Arab League has voiced its support.

In the United States, the government is bailing out banks, intervening in the economy, yet in Latin America, the Right continues to talk about 'free markets.' It's totally outdated; they don't have arguments; they don't have any sense.

It makes one sad to see the sell-out of President Fox; really, it makes one sad. How sad that the president of a people like the Mexicans lets himself become the puppy dog of the empire.

This has been a great victory for the Venezuelan people.

I think the United States and the secretary of State should be concerned about the poverty in this country - people without health insurance. The United States should stop being the empire and be concerned about other countries. You've got to be more worried about your own people.

When we were children, we were told that we have a motherland, and that motherland was Spain. However, we have discovered later, in our lives, that as a matter of fact, we have several motherlands. And one of the greatest motherlands of all is, no doubt, Africa.

Castro has been a teacher for me. A master. Not on ideology but on strategy.

Venezuela is a free country, and we will not be blackmailed by anyone. We will not accept being told what to do over Iran; we will not accept being anyone's colony.

I shook Obama's hand and I said, 'I want to be your friend.' My hand is still outstretched. I am not Obama's enemy, but it's difficult not see imperialism in Washington. Those who don't see it don't want to see it, like the ostrich.

I believe in God, in Jesus Christ. I love Jesus Christ. I am a Christian... I cry when I see injustice, children dying of hunger.

I don't care about the internal political system of the United States. I want to be a friend of United States, of its baseball, its institutions, its rock and roll, its workers, and its technology because we need it. I want to be friends of the Arab people, of the Persian people, of the Asian people.

An infernal machine that produces every minute an impressive amount of poor, 26 million poor in 10 years are 2.6 million per year of new poor, this is the road, well, the road to hell.

Kennedy was the driving force of reform in America.

I'm a man with many defects. I love. I sing. I dream. I was born in the poor countryside. I was raised in the countryside, planting corn and selling sweets made by my grandmother. My children, my two daughters are with me and I want a better world for my grandchildren, for your grandchildren.

Noam Chomsky has a book, which I read for the first time when I was in Spain, called 'Fear of Democracy'. There is your answer. Fear of democracy. In Honduras, they had a sham democracy. It was run by elites, what was called a liberal democracy, but in reality was a false democracy.

I wish Obama would focus on governing the United States and would forget his country's imperialist pretensions.

Convinced as I am and as I am from my government that the world needs a new moral architecture over all I believe that this should be the first topic to debate in our world of today, ethics, moral.

Our voice is an independent voice to represent the dignity and the search for peace and the reformulation of the international system; to denounce persecution and aggression of hegemonistic forces on the planet. This is how Venezuela has presented itself. Bolivar's home has sought a nonpermanent seat on the Security Council.

Mutual respect! That's what it takes to be friends.

There's been an open attack by the U.S. government, an immoral attack, to try and prevent Venezuela from being freely elected to a post in the Security Council. The imperium is afraid of truth, is afraid of independent voices. It calls us extremists, but they are the extremists.

What is the U.S. government looking for? And the elite governing this country? They're looking for oil.

I wish we could begin a new period of normal relations with the government of the United States.

Our policy is to deepen the relations with all the countries in the world - monarchies, kingdoms, large powers - we want to respect all differences and have our relationships based on mutual respect.

Most governments in the United States in a hundred years have not respected the peoples of Latin America. They have sponsored coup d'etats, assassinations.

Even socialist dictators have an interest in gorgeous supermodels.

I think developed countries - so-called developed countries - should reflect upon the way of living and the waste of energy.

The problem is not the oil, but what they do with the oil. The United States is the biggest spender of oil and of all the planet resources.

Don't be shameless, Mr Blair. Don't be immoral, Mr Blair. You are one of those who have no morals. You are not one who has the right to criticise anyone about the rules of the international community.

I'm a Christian. I want the world of justice and equality. This is the only way to achieve peace.

As Chomsky says here, clearly and in depth, the American empire is doing all it can to consolidate its system of domination. And we cannot allow them to do that. We cannot allow world dictatorship to be consolidated.

No part of the human community can live entirely on its own planet, with its own laws of motion and cut off from the rest of humanity.

Fidel is a Marxist-Leninist. I am not. Fidel is an atheist. I am not. One day, we discussed God and Christ. I told Castro, I am a Christian. I believe in the Social Gospels of Christ. He doesn't. Just doesn't. More than once, Castro told me that Venezuela is not Cuba, and we are not in the 1960s.

Capitalism is destroying the world.

The only way to save the world is through socialism, but a socialism that exists within a democracy; there's no dictatorship here.

Oil is a very valuable resource for life - electric heaters. We must have to transition ourselves to a post-oil era. And that's what we must discuss: searching and developing new sources of energy. And that requires scientific research. That requires investment. And the developed countries must be the ones to assume this responsibility first.

I remember. How many minutes do I have left President? About one, one minute.

I neglected my health, and I was reluctant to have medical check-ups. It was a fundamental mistake for a revolutionary, to the Venezuelan people and the international public opinion.

I even believed in a third way; I thought it was possible to put a human face on capitalism. But I was wrong. The only way to save the world is through socialism, but a socialism that exists within a democracy; there's no dictatorship here.

I've been in revolt for years against ignominy, against injustice, against inequality, against immorality, against the exploitation of human beings.

We must reduce the emissions 100 percent. In Venezuela, the emissions are currently insignificant compared to the emissions of the developed countries.

It's a lie! I am not an anti-Semite. The World Jewish Congress supported me and said that I am not anti-Semitic.

The U.S. only has 20 billion barrels of oil in reserve. It seems as though there is no more oil around. Venezuela has 300 billion barrels of oil in reserves. Iraq has, like, 150 billion barrels of oil. Iran, close to 300 billion barrels of reserve. Oil for 200 years, of course.

The U.N. system, born after the Second World War, collapsed. It's worthless.

I was an altar boy. My mother wanted me to be a priest. I am very Christian and Catholic... I'm very faithful.

Artists are never wrong when they paint revolution with the beautiful dress and with the sword. On the horse or by foot. Because revolution is a woman.

Venezuelan interests are to be defended by Venezuela. The U.S. should defend the interests of the U.S. Where are the U.S. people, where are the intellectuals, who could put limits on their government?

Venezuela has the largest oil reserve, and Venezuela has to defend itself.

I have said it already, I am convinced that the way to build a new and better world is not capitalism. Capitalism leads us straight to hell.

The U.S. people have a major role to play to solve, to save this planet.

The left is back, and it's the only path we have to get out of the spot to which the right has sunken us. Socialism builds and capitalism destroys.

I painted. I wanted to be a painter. I sang.

I was a farm kid from the plains of South Venezuela, from a very poor family. I grew up in a palm tree house with an earthen floor.

One of the greatest rebels, who I really admire: Christ. He was a rebel. He ended up being crucified. He was a great rebel. He rebelled against the established power that subjugated.

I was born in the poor countryside. I was raised in the countryside, planting corn and selling sweets made by my grandmother.

Venezuela has changed forever.

I am a President held prisoner, that I haven't resigned and I will not resign.

I was an altar boy. My mother wanted me to be a priest. I am very Christian and Catholic. ... I'm very faithful. I believe in God, in Jesus Christ.

What hurts me most is poverty, and that's what led me to become a rebel.

I became a soldier, not because I had a military vocation initially, but because it was the only way that that young, poor-class child from the provinces could go to the center of the country: through baseball, which was my dream.

Dr. Insulza is quite an idiot, a true idiot. The insipid Dr. Insulza should resign from the secretariat of the OAS for daring to play that role.

The 'Alliance for Progress' was a political proposal to improve conditions. It was aimed at lowering the social difference between cultures.

The United States should stop being the 'empire' and be concerned about other countries. You've got to be more worried about your own people.

They do not walk in... the path of Christ.

The United States was born with an imperialist impulse. There has been a long confrontation between Monroe and Bolivar... It is necessary that the Monroe Doctrine be broken.