Kofi Annan

In their greatest hour of need, the world failed the people of Rwanda.

Above all else, we need a reaffirmation of political commitment at the highest levels to reducing the dangers that arise both from existing nuclear weapons and from further proliferation.

Without a dream you’ll not get anywhere.

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.

On climate change we often dont fully appreciate that it is a problem. We think it is a problem waiting to happen.

Refugees cannot be stopped, but they can and must be managed better, more humanely, protecting migrants' human rights whilst accepting states' rights to control their borders.

There is no development strategy more beneficial to society as a whole - women and men alike - than the one which involves women as central players.

More countries have understood that women's equality is a prerequisite for development.

If we can come up with innovations and train young people to take on new jobs, and if we can switch to clean energy, I think we have the capacity to build this world not dependent on fossil-fuel. I think it will happen, and it won't destroy economy.

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.

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.

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.

If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever.

For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.

The message should be clear climate change must take its place along those threats like conflict poverty.

literacy is at the heart of sustainable development

Business, labor and civil society organizations have skills and resources that are vital in helping to build a more robust global community.

there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women.

When women thrive, all of society benefits, and succeeding generations are given a better start in life.

Gender equality is critical to the development and peace of every nation.

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.

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

We need to keep hope alive and strive to do better.

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

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

We need to think of the future and the planet we are going to leave to our children and their children.

I don't share the view that the ICC is anti-African. The ICC is not putting Africa on trial. The ICC is fighting impunity and individuals who are accused of crimes.

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.

If one is going to err, one should err on the side of liberty and freedom.

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.

Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress in every society in every family.

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.

It has been said that arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity.

Many African leaders refuse to send their troops on peace keeping missions abroad because they probably need their armies to intimidate their own populations.

More countries have understood that womens equality is a prerequisite for development.

We must ensure that the global market is embedded in broadly shared values and practices that reflect global social needs, and that all the world's people share the benefits of globalization.

The right to development is the measure of the respect of all other human rights.That should be our aim a situation in which all individuals are enabled to maximize their potential and to contribute to the evolution of society as a whole.

Human rights education is much more than a lesson in schools or a theme for a day; it is a process to equip people with the tools they need to live lives of security and dignity.

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

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

National markets are held together by shared values and confidence in certain minimum standards. But in the new global market, people do not yet have that confidence.

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

If information and knowledge are central to democracy, they are the conditions for development.

Human rights education is much more than a lesson in schools or a theme for a day it is a process to equip people with the tools they need to live lives of security and dignity.

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.

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

Man doesn’t know what he is capable of until he is asked.

Insecurity is love dressed in a child's clothing.

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.

We have to choose between a global market driven only by calculations of short-term profit, and one which has a human face.

In the rush for justice it is important not to lose sight of principles the country holds dear.

Literacy unlocks the door to learning throughout life, is essential to development and health, and opens the way for democratic participation and active citizenship.

Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.

Extreme poverty anywhere is a threat to human security everywhere.

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.

If the United Nations does not attempt to chart a course for the world's people in the first decades of the new millennium, who will?

The United Nations, whose membership comprises almost all the states in the world, is founded on the principle of the equal worth of every human being.

The Lord had the wonderful advantage of being able to work alone.

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.