Activist

When I was under house arrest, it was the BBC that spoke to me - I listened.

I look forward to trying the Internet.

The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for life and dignity. It is a struggle that encompasses our political, social and economic aspirations.

When you decide to follow a certain path, you should follow it to the end and not be diverted from it for personal reasons.

I learned to work on a computer years before I was placed under house arrest. Fortunately I had two laptops when I was under house arrest - one an Apple and one a different operating system. I was very proud of that because I know how to use both systems.

Maybe it is something to do with age, but I have become fonder of poetry than of prose.

If I were the blushing kind, I would blush to be called a hero.

All military regimes use security as the reason why they should remain in power. It's nothing original.

You cannot compromise unless people talk to you.

Books always help.

Every government must consider the security of the country. That is just part of the responsibilities of any government. But true security can only come out of unity within a country where there are so many ethnic nationalities.

We always think that everybody can do a little bit more, if not a lot more.

If you look at the democratic process as a game of chess, there have to be many, many moves before you get to checkmate. And simply because you do not make any checkmate in three moves does not mean it's stalemate. There's a vast difference between no checkmate and stalemate. This is what the democratic process is like.

People must work in unison.

Fires of suffering and strife are raging around the world.

All repressive laws must be revoked, and laws introduced to protect the rights of the people.

I think, if you have enough inner resources, then you can live in isolation for long periods of time and not feel diminished by it.

I don't believe in professional dissidents. I think it's just a phase, like adolescence.

If you want to bring an end to long-standing conflict, you have to be prepared to compromise.

The history of the world shows that peoples and societies do not have to pass through a fixed series of stages in the course of development.