20th-century President Quotes

Never make up with extremism, racism, antisemitism or rejecting whoever is different.

We are in a state where these semi-literate clerics are closing the minds of people.

Pervez Musharraf

With humble duty, I wish to submit to you the following advice, acting in my capacity as your representative in Fiji. Owing to the uncertainty of the political and constitutional situation in Fiji, I have now made up my mind to request Your Majesty to relieve me of my appointment as Governor-General with immediate effect. This I do with utmost regret, but my endeavours to preserve constitutional government in Fiji have proved in vain, and I can see no alternative way forward. With deepest respect, Penaia Ganilau, Governor-General.

Peace is a battle. Peace is never given freely, never acquired. Its conquest is the result of courage and of respect for others. It demands awareness and commitment from everyone. Peace is not the law imposed by the mighty, but that which is founded on equality and dignity of all peoples

Chandrika Kumaratunga

Environmentalism is a dangerous ideology endangering human freedom.

Communism has established centres of infection... No area in the world is as vital to American security as the Caribbean... We need a massive injection of money to reset the country on its feet, and this injection can come only from our great, capable friend and neighbor the United States.

François Duvalier

The confrontation would be better and cheaper for us than to sign that we accept U. N. forces in Darfur.

Now it is time to turn to an older wisdom that, while respecting material comfort and security as a basic right of all, also recognises that many of the most valuable things in life cannot be measured.

Michael D. Higgins

The Zionists have no right to the land of Palestine. There is no place for them on the land of Palestine. What they took before 1947-8 constitutes plunder, and what they are doing now is a continuation of this plundering. By no means do we recognize their Green Line. The land of Palestine belongs to the Palestinians, not to the Zionists.

Myself, the government and people of Nigeria are inspired by the United States of America's achievement and the principles which guide it.

A nation is born into freedom on the day when such a people, moulded into a nation by a process of cultural evolution and sense of oneness born of common struggle and suffering, announces to the world that it asserts its natural right to liberty and is ready to defend it with blood, life, and honor.

Diosdado Macapagal

Our only crime consisted of decreeing our own laws and applying them to all without exception. Our crime is having enacted an agrarian reform which effected the interests of the United Fruit Company. Our crime is wanting to have our own route to the Atlantic, our own electric power and our own docks and ports. Our crime is our patriotic wish to advance, to progress, to win economic independence to match our political independence. We are condemned because we have given our peasant population land and rights.

Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán

I believe that he who has less in life should have more in law.

Ramon Magsaysay

The Philippines has no policy that demands sacrifice of human lives.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

We are Macedonians but we are Slav Macedonians. That's who we are! We have no connection to Alexander the Greek and his Macedonia. The ancient Macedonians no longer exist, they had disappeared from history long time ago. Our ancestors came here in the 5th and 6th century (AD).

Joking about Emmanuel Macron:

He's a bit of a man and a bit of a woman, as he's in fashion now. Androgynous.

Nicolas Sarkozy

The first time that I went to the United States was in 1974... I was 20 years old. America was in crisis. The dollar was at a low. The Watergate scandal had already erupted. And I still remember this vision I had of New York, which was a huge, fascinating city, dirty and violent. And I've been to the U.S. regularly, but what impresses me most in this large nation is its capacity to overcome hardship and return to the heights.

François Hollande

Milosevic was convinced that he could create Greater Serbia on the ruins of Yugoslavia, which is why he entered the war adventure that left thousands and thousands dead, a destroyed economy, infrastructure, homes, cities and villages. That politics did not succeed. Dodik, basically, wants to achieve Milosevic's aims, but not with artillery, but thinks that some sort of politics will lead to people saying: okay, let them break away, let them link with Serbia. That cannot pass.

Strike the enemy's settlements, turn them into dust, pave the Arab roads with the skulls of Jews.

I ask Congressmen why they have such close relations with Armenia, and they say that the Armenian Diaspora gives them a lot of money. Is that corruption or not?

Tell you what, I've been through hundreds of battles. I've seen it all. Which country in the west have I not been to? Every time! You should know Mike Wallace, in the U.S. He's way above you all! I and he talked and laughed comfortably, which is why the media need to raise your level of knowledge. Got it, or not? I'm anxious for you all, it's true. You really, I. You guys are good at one thing.

If I had not been born Perón, I would have liked to be Perón.

There is plenty of room at the top because very few people care to travel beyond the average route. And so most of us seem satisfied to remain within the confines of mediocrity.

Our talks were very pleasant, as usual. Remember I used to vote Labour when I was here.

The exploiters' power is to oppress the people. Our power is the power of the people.