Kofi Atta Annan was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. This Kofi Annan quotes on peace, education, youth, women’s rights will motivate you.
Best Kofi Annan Quotes
- “We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.” – Kofi Annan
- “To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.” – Kofi Annan
- “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” – Kofi Annan
- “Young people should be at the forefront of global change and innovation. Empowered, they can be key agents for development and peace. If, however, they are left on society’s margins, all of us will be impoverished. Let us ensure that all young people have every opportunity to participate fully in the lives of their societies.” – Kofi Annan, Kofi Annan quotes on youth
- “We don’t need any more promises. We need to start keeping the promises we already made.” – Kofi Annan
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“The future belongs to you, but it can only belong to you if you participate and take charge” – Kofi Annan
- “We need to promote greater tolerance and understanding among the peoples of the world. Nothing can be more dangerous to our efforts to build peace and development than a world divided along religious, ethnic, or cultural lines. In each nation, and among all nations, we must work to promote unity based on our shared humanity.” – Kofi Annan
- “You are never too young to lead and you should never doubt your capacity to triumph where others have not.” – Kofi Annan
- “Gather the five virtues (Dignity, Confidence, Courage, Compassion, and Faith). Then you are a man.” – Kofi Annan
- “…there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women.” – Kofi Annan, Kofi Annan quotes on women’s right
- “We can love what we are, without hating what, and who, we are not.” – Kofi Annan
- “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
- “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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“Without a dream, you’ll not get anywhere.” – Kofi Annan
- “When women thrive, all of the social benefits and succeeding generations are given a better start in life.” – Kofi Annan
- “Education is, quite simply, peace-building by another name. It is the most effective form of defense spending there is.” – Kofi Annan
- “Have confidence in the young people, give them a chance, and they will surprise you.” – Kofi Annan
- “I used to tell the story about as a young man in high school one of the professors came in and put a broad white sheet on the board with a dot in the right-hand corner and said, “Boys, what do you see?” And we all shouted, a black dot. He stood back and said, “not a single one of you saw the broad white sheet, you all saw the black dot.” He went on to tell us to focus on the broader picture, don’t focus on the negative.” – Kofi Annan
- “If you are neutral in a situation where one side is patently being mistreated, the conclusion is that you’re siding with this wrong.” – Kofi Annan
- “Once you are really challenged, you find something in yourself. Man doesn’t know what he is capable of until he is asked.” – Kofi Annan
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“No one is born a good citizen or a good Democrat or a good leader; it takes time and education.” – Kofi Annan
- “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
- “No nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others. We all share responsibility for each other’s security, and only by working to make each other secure can we hope to achieve lasting security for ourselves.” – Kofi Annan
- “We shall not defeat any of the infectious diseases that plague the developing world until we have also won the battle for safe drinking water, sanitation, and basic health care.” – Kofi Annan
- “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
- “Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.” – Kofi Annan
- “I am not afraid to dream. You first have to start with a dream. Build your castles in the air and give it foundation. Without a dream, you are not going to get anywhere.” – Kofi Annan
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“You have to wake up every day ready to start again.” – Kofi Annan
- “…let us continue to work together to develop and nurture in future generations a culture of human rights, to promote freedom, security, and peace in all nations.” – Kofi Annan
- “We need to think of the future and the planet we are going to leave to our children and their children.” – Kofi Annan
- “People of different religions and cultures live side by side in almost every part of the world, and most of us have overlapping identities which unite us with very different groups. We can love what we are, without hating what – and who – we are not. We can thrive in our own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings.” – Kofi Annan
- “Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an idea that seems abstract – sustainable development – and turn it into a reality for all the world’s people” – Kofi Annan
- “International law now grants rights to all human beings, not only to citizens.” – Kofi Annan
- “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
- “It may seem sometimes as if a culture of peace does not stand a chance against the culture of war, the culture of violence, and the cultures of impunity and intolerance. Peace may indeed be a complex challenge, dependent on the action in many fields and even a bit of luck from time to time. It may be a painfully slow process, and fragile and imperfect when it is achieved. But peace is in our hands. We can do it.” – Kofi Annan
