Quote

The World is not ours to keep. We hold it in trust for future generations.

Kofi Annan

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Kofi Annan
Age: 80 †
Born: 1938
Born: April 8
Died: 2018
Died: August 18
Diplomat
Economist
Politician
Coomassie
Kofi Atta Annan
Annan
Kofi A. Annan
Generations
Hold
Trust
Future
Keep
World

More quotes by Kofi Annan

Image
In all these cases, part of the reasons for failure perhaps was not analyzing and assessing the true nature of the crisis, the resources that would be required, and exaggerated expectation of what the U.N. troops can do.
Kofi Annan
Image
Ameen Rihani, one of the earliest Arab Americans, devoted his life to bringing the East and the West together. We are not of the East or the West, he wrote. No boundaries exist in our breast: We are free.
Kofi Annan
Image
We knew the Syrian situation was complex and there were lots of divisions, particularly on the side of the opposition... This is a tough job... It can perhaps be done if you stand united and work with me in putting sustained pressure on the protagonists or the parties to come together and seek a political settlement.
Kofi Annan
Image
If we get agriculture right in Africa, where most of the people now are working in that sector, not only would it help boost development but we will be secure in terms of food and nutrition and then be able to move on to other areas.
Kofi Annan
Image
The number one goal in resolving a conflict is to make sure both sides maintain their self-esteem. You don't hit a man on the head when you've got your fingers between his teeth.
Kofi Annan
Image
My intimate knowledge of the [UN] system allowed me to get things done despite the many obstacles.
Kofi Annan
Image
The Security Council should be seen as the executive committee of the global security system set up after World War II. Its members, and especially the Permanent 5 (P5), have a special responsibility for international peace and security.
Kofi Annan
Image
After the end of the cold war, everybody thought, fantastic, finally the UN may be able to do what it was originally set up to do without big power divisions. It would be easy to get them to come together to resolve things. You will recall, on the first Gulf war, you almost got a unanimous resolution and a very solid coalition.
Kofi Annan
Image
I think over time you learn to know a bit more about yourself - you develop a certain amount of self-insight and self-awareness, and you know what you can absorb, and what you cannot what gets to you and what doesn't.
Kofi Annan
Image
Asked whether donor nations may be becoming fatigued ... The fatigue may be there, but I don't think we can justify it in the face of such misery. We may need to wake up our conscience and our conscience must force us to act.
Kofi Annan
Image
This is a day on which we pay our respects to those who have endured the unimaginable. This is an occasion for the world to speak up against the unspeakable. It is long overdue that a day be dedicated to remembering and supporting the many victims and survivors of torture around the world.
Kofi Annan
Image
I spent my youth and my most formative years in Africa. I left Africa when I was about 20, 21, and when Mo says a great African, I was really moulded by my African experience, although I had the good fortune that by the time I was 24 I had studied and worked on three continents - Africa, the US, and Europe.
Kofi Annan
Image
The invasion and occupation of Iraq is illegal.
Kofi Annan
Image
In an era of globalisation, AIESEC's programmes have helped young people around the world to develop a broader understanding of cultural socio-economic and business management issues.
Kofi Annan
Image
If information and knowledge are central to democracy, they are the conditions for development.
Kofi Annan
Image
It is extreme arrogance for one to think he...and it's usually he, is the only one who can govern his country and nobody else can do it.
Kofi Annan
Image
When the US withdrew their troops from Somalia, I recall making a comment that [in] the way the peacekeepers had been withdrawn from Somalia, the impression had been given that the easiest way to unravel a peacekeeping operation is to kill a few soldiers.
Kofi Annan
Image
On this International Day of Peace, let us dare to imagine a world free of conflict and violence
Kofi Annan
Image
It is tragic that so few young people in Western democracies vote. They have forgotten that their ancestors fought for the right to choose and change their leaders. They don't realise that their votes are more important than their tweets or Facebook posts.
Kofi Annan
Image
If globalization is to succeed, it must succeed for poor and rich alike. It must deliver rights no less than riches. It must provide social justice and equity no less than economic prosperity and enhanced communication.
Kofi Annan