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Does anyone seriously contend that any nation can fend for itself?

Kofi Annan

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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
Nation
Anyone
Nations
Doe
Fend
Contend
Seriously

More quotes by Kofi Annan

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Let us, above all, be clear that, without a convincing program of debt relief to start the new millennium, our objective of halving world poverty by 2015 will be only a pipe dream.
Kofi Annan
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We all make mistakes.
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Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.
Kofi Annan
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I've been around enough to realise that there are two things that once people have them, they don't want to give up, and it's extremely difficult to convince them to give up: one is privileges, and the other is subsidies.
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I think what gives me hope is I have the sense that the people of Kenya have turned the page. They are keen to get a new political dispensation. They are keen to fight corruption and impunity, and in that sense they are leaving the political elite behind.
Kofi Annan
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You can do a lot with diplomacy, but with diplomacy backed up by force you can get a lot more done.
Kofi Annan
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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
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We have to choose between a global market driven only by calculations of short-term profit, and one which has a human face.
Kofi Annan
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For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.
Kofi Annan
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The report produced by my commission, the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security, in 2012 showed the corrosive impact of money in US politics, for example, which undermines the legitimacy of the democratic system in citizens' eyes. Such perceptions partly explain the rise of a phenomenon like the success of Donald Trump.
Kofi Annan
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Poverty devastates families, communities and nations. It causes instability and political unrest and fuels conflict.
Kofi Annan
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If information and knowledge are central to democracy, they are the conditions for development.
Kofi Annan
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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
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I hope we do not see another Iraq-type operation for a long time - without UN approval and much broader support from the international community.
Kofi Annan
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In the 21st Century I believe the mission of the United Nations will be defined by a new, more profound, awareness of the sanctity and dignity of every human life, regardless of race or religion.
Kofi Annan
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If tolerance, respect and equity permeate family life, they will translate into values that shape societies, nations and the world.
Kofi Annan
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The United Nations has long recognised that the imagination, ideals and energies of young men and women are vital for the continuing development of the societies in which they live. And since its inception in 1948, AIESEC has contributed to this development by serving as an agent of positive change trough education and cultural exchange.
Kofi Annan
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We need to create a world that is equitable, that is stable and a world where we bear in mind the needs of others, and not only what we need immediately. We are all in the same boat.
Kofi Annan
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We need to think of the future and the planet we are going to leave to our children and their children.
Kofi Annan
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A hungry mind is not free, and I felt if we were really going to make a difference and fight poverty we should at least start with the ability to feed ourselves, and the millions of Africans who don't have it.
Kofi Annan