During 65 years, I have walked the path of duty and discipline... And today, looking back at that long path of service, my soldier's heart stirs and murmurs from deep within: Thank you. Thank you, my homeland.

I was only an aspiring dictator. I was never a real dictator.

I'm not someone who usually sends out threats. I warn only once. The day they touch one of my men, the rule of law is over.

We have no political prisons. We have political internal exiles.

My face is sour. Maybe that's why they say I'm a dictator.

Sometimes democracy must be bathed in blood.

Not a single leaf moves in this country if I'm not the one moving it.

Executive power is exercised by the President of the Governing Board who, with the title of President of the Republic of Chile, administers the state and is the Supreme Chief of the Nation.

The nation is trying to make Chile a country of proprietors, not of proletarians.

The only solution to the issue of human rights is oblivion.

My moral and spiritual formation does not allow me to be a dictator... If I were a dictator, You can be sure that many things have happened.

The rich people are those who create wealth, and you have to treat them well so they continue to give wealth.

I devalued the peso solely looking after the poor.

I'm looking at them from above, because God put me there.

Everything I did, all my actions, all of the problems I had I dedicate to God and to Chile, because I kept Chile from becoming Communist.

Today, near the end of my days, I want to say that I harbor no rancor against anybody, that I love my fatherland above all and that I take political responsibility for everything that was done which had no other goal than making Chile greater and avoiding its disintegration. I assume full political responsibility for what happened.

I will die. The person who succeeds me will also have to die. But elections, you won't have.