The rice grain suffers under the blow of the pestle. But admire its whiteness once the order is over. So it is with men and the world we live in. To be a man one must suffer the blows of misfortune.

I'm very moved to be here today, ... Our lives are now much better, but Vietnam remains a very poor country. We need to work much harder.

Colonial atrocities have prepared the soil it is for socialists to sow the seeds of revolution.

Military action without politics is like a tree without a root.

When the prison doors are opened, the real dragon will fly out.

You can kill ten of our men for every one we kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and we will win.

But by reading them again and again finally I was able to grasp the essential part. What emotion, enthusiasm, enlightenment and confidence they communicated to me! I wept for joy.

Remember that the storm is a good opportunity for the pine and the cypress to show their strength and their stability.

To reap a return in ten years, plant trees. To reap a return in 100, cultivate the people.

Love other human beings as you would love yourself.

A poet must learn to wage war.

The object of my relationship with Vietnam has been to heal the wounds that exist, particularly among our veterans, and to move forward with a positive relationship,... Apparently some in the Vietnamese government don't want to do that and that's their decision.

It was patriotism, not communism, that inspired me.

Our resistance will be long and painful, but whatever the sacrifices, however long the struggle, we shall fight to the end, until Vietnam is fully independent and reunified.