My opinion is the greatest reward that any government could get is the approval of the people. If the people are happy and the people are at peace and the government has done something for them, that's the greatest reward I think any government could hope for.
Of course I regret not having been able to spend time with my family.
Sanctions and boycotts would be tied to serious political dialogue.
When the Nobel Committee chose to honor me, the road I had chosen of my own free will became a less lonely path to follow.
I think sometimes if you are alone, you are freer because your time is your own.
Peace as a goal is an ideal which will not be contested by any government or nation, not even the most belligerent.
I would like to have seen my sons growing up.
I learned to work on a computer years before I was placed under house arrest. Fortunately I had two laptops when I was under house arrest - one an Apple and one a different operating system. I was very proud of that because I know how to use both systems.
I'm rather inclined to liking people.
Some of the most relaxing weekends I have ever enjoyed were those I spent quietly with a sense of all work to date completed, and an absorbing mystery.
I do protect human rights, and I hope I shall always be looked up as a champion of human rights.
Every thought, every word, and every action that adds to the positive and the wholesome is a contribution to peace. Each and every one of us is capable of making such a contribution.
Sometimes I think that a parody of democracy could be more dangerous than a blatant dictatorship, because that gives people an opportunity to avoid doing anything about it.
If you want to bring an end to long-standing conflict, you have to be prepared to compromise.
After all it was my father who founded the Burmese army and I do have a sense of warmth towards the Burmese army.
Human beings the world over need freedom and security that they may be able to realize their full potential.
I do not hold to non-violence for moral reasons, but for practical and political reasons, because I think it's best for the country. And even Ghandiji, who is supposed to be the father of non-violence, said that between cowardice and violence, he'd choose violence any time.
I've always been strongly on the side of non-violence.
Every kindness I received, small or big, convinced me that there could never be enough of it in the world. Kindness, can change the lives of people.
The judiciary must be strengthened and released from political interference.
I don't think you can work on feelings in politics, apart from anything else, political change can come very unexpectedly, sometimes overnight when you least expect it.
I don't want to be president, but I want to be free to decide whether or not I want to be president of this country.
I think, if you have enough inner resources, then you can live in isolation for long periods of time and not feel diminished by it.
I think by now I have made it fairly clear that I am not very happy with the word hope. I don't believe in people just hoping.
When I was under house arrest, it was the BBC that spoke to me - I listened.
I haven't heard any music on the BBC World Service in a long time. Maybe I'm listening at the wrong times. But not one single piece of music.
It is not enough to sit and hope. You have to work in order to realize your hopes.
While there is wisdom in refraining from implementing change merely for the sake of change, clinging to old ways solely for the sake of their antiquity is obviously equally futile.
One person alone can't do anything as important as bringing genuine democracy to a country.
I don't understand why people say that I am full of courage. I feel terribly nervous.
This was the way I was brought up to think of politics, that politics was to do with ethics, it was to do with responsibility, it was to do with service, so I think I was conditioned to think like that, and I'm too old to change now.
We want to empower our people; we want to strengthen them; we want to provide them with the kind of qualifications that will enable them to build up their own country themselves.
Government leaders are amazing. So often it seems they are the last to know what the people want.
I wish people wouldn't think of me as a saint - unless they agree with the definition of a saint that a saint's a sinner who goes on trying.
I think I was the healthiest prisoner of conscience in the world.
My attitude is, do as much as I can while I'm free. And if I'm arrested I'll still do as much as I can.
I think when the people in Burma stop thinking about whether or not they're free, it'll mean that they're free.
At this age, I should be leading a quiet life.
Democracy is when the people keep a government in check.
I only used a cell phone for the first time after I was released. I had difficulty coping with it because it seemed so small and insubstantial.
It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.
More people, especially young people, are realising that if they want change, they've got to go about it themselves - they can't depend on a particular person, i.e. me, to do all the work. They are less easy to fool than they used to be, they now know what's going on all over the world.
Regime is made up of people, so I do put faces to regimes and governments, so I feel that all human beings have the right to be given the benefit of the doubt, and they also have to be given the right to try to redeem themselves if they so wish.
The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.
War is not the only arena where peace is done to death.
The democracy process provides for political and social change without violence.
I think I should be active politically. Because I look upon myself as a politician. That's not a dirty work you know. Some people think that there are something wrong with politicians. Of course, something wrong with some politicians.
You should never let your fears prevent you from doing what you know is right.
