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If the United Nations is not as united as it should be, that is because it is a reflection of the world we live in.

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
Reflection
Nations
United
Live
World

More quotes by Kofi Annan

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I think that peacekeeping can do quite a lot, if they are given the right mandate with the commensurate resources to get the job done.
Kofi Annan
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Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories.
Kofi Annan
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Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.
Kofi Annan
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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
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I think the generational change is going to be so important for Africa that we really should encourage and push it as much as we can, because some of these younger men and women, who are men and women of their times, and are also connected to the rest of the world, wouldn't even know how to behave in the way some of the old leaders do.
Kofi Annan
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When so many lives are at risk, when so much killing is going on, when there's so much chaos and suffering, isn't the risk warranted? ... And if we don't take the risk of coming to the conference, what do we do? We let it continue?
Kofi Annan
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Elections with integrity are a challenge everywhere, including in the West.
Kofi Annan
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Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.
Kofi Annan
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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
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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
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To go to war without the Security Council will not be in conformity with the Council.
Kofi Annan
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If we can come up with innovations and train young people to take on new jobs, and if we can switch to clean energy, I think we have the capacity to build this world not dependent on fossil-fuel. I think it will happen, and it won't destroy economy.
Kofi Annan
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We must bring a message of solidarity, of mutual respect and, above all, of hope. Business cannot afford to be seen as the problem.
Kofi Annan
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Over time you get to understand the nature of man and the environments you are dealing with, and you can't always allow emotions and temper to flare up because you're displeased with something, or you want to change it.
Kofi Annan
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Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda. Our mission, therefore, is to confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity. Racism can, will, and must be defeated.
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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I have always believed that on important issues, the leaders must lead. Where the leaders fail to lead, and people are really concerned about it, the people will take the lead and make the leaders follow.
Kofi Annan
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The right to development is the measure of the respect of all other human rights.That should be our aim: a situation in which all individuals are enabled to maximize their potential, and to contribute to the evolution of society as a whole.
Kofi Annan
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Iraq has a new opportunity to comply with all these relevant resolutions of the Security Council.
Kofi Annan
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I think the US and UK thought if they gave a bit more time to Israel, they would crush Hezbollah. But it became very obvious that was an unwinnable war.
Kofi Annan