Home / Authors / Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan Quotes

Diplomat

Kofi Annan, born on April 8, 1938, is an accomplished diplomat. He served in various significant roles at the United Nations, culminating in his tenure as the seventh Secretary-General. Known for his contributions to peace and security, Annan was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Filter quotes by topic

All World People Humans Ifs Development Nations Needs Country Rights Security Human Rights Thinking International Poverty States United United Nations War Wells Should

Famous Kofi Annan Quotes

“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.”

Thinking Needs May Faces Force Nations Becoming Conscience Wake Up Misery Justify Fatigue Donors

Author:Kofi Annan

“We don’t need any more promises. We need to start keeping the promises we already made.”

Needs Made Promise

Author:Kofi Annan

“There are a great number of peoples who need more than just words of sympathy from the international community. They need a real and sustained commitment to help end their cycles of violence, and launch them on a safe passage to prosperity.”

Needs Real Ends Helping Community Numbers Violence Safe Commitment International Prosperity Cycles Passages International Community Words Of Sympathy Cycle Of Violence

Author: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.”

World Needs Mind Bears Boat Stable Equitable Needs Of Others

Author:Kofi Annan

“Access to safe water is a fundamental human need and therefore a basic human right.”

Needs Humans Water Safe Fundamentals Access Human Needs

Author:Kofi Annan

“We need to ensure the poorest in the planet - who will be hardest hit by the financial crisis - are not forgotten.”

Needs Planets Crisis Forgotten Financial Hardest Poorest Financial Crisis Hardest Hit

Author:Kofi Annan

“You need to be careful not to over-reach and also assess the capacity you have to work with.”

Needs Capacity Careful Be Careful

Author:Kofi Annan

“You need younger men in Africa, men and women in African politics.”

Men Needs Men And Women

Author:Kofi Annan

“Each crisis is different, has its own specificities, and we need to look at it critically; look at each one in its own terms.”

Needs Looks Different Term Crisis Specificity

Author:Kofi Annan

“The interesting thing is, everybody focuses on the global warming as an environmental issue, as something outside our daily lives. But actually the impact of global warming is with us today. Communities are suffering. Communities in poor countries are the ones paying the price, they are not the ones who are polluting, and we need to help them adapt.”

Needs Country Helping Today Suffering Community Interesting Poor Issues Impact Environmental Global Warming Daily Life Interesting Things Poor Countries Environmental Issues

Author:Kofi Annan

“The future of peace and prosperity that we seek for all the world's peoples needs a foundation of tolerance, security, equality and justice. That foundation is the family. It is only by protecting families, from famine as well as from fragmentation, that they can prosper and contribute to the family of nations that is the United Nations.”

World Needs Wells Nations Justice United Family Security Foundation Prosperity Equality Tolerance United Nations Famine Equality And Justice Fragmentation

Author:Kofi Annan

“Beneath the surface of states and nations, ideas and language, lies the fate of individual human beings in need. Answering their needs will be the mission of the United Nations in the century to come.”

Needs Humans Ideas States Lying Humanity Individual Language Nations Human Beings United Fate Century Missions Surface United Nations Beneath The Surface

Author:Kofi Annan

“If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever.”

Ifs Thinking World Needs Helping Wish Building Helping Others Engagement Volunteer Wishful Thinking Volunteerism

Author:Kofi Annan

“The future of peace and prosperity that we seek for all the world's peoples needs a foundation of tolerance, security, equality and justice.”

World Needs Justice Security Future Foundation Prosperity Tolerance Equality And Justice

Author:Kofi Annan

“The main point in our report was to recommend decriminalization...because of the way laws are applied, which have not worked. We have applied them for decades and it's got the prisons filled with lots of young people who sometimes come out destroyed for having half an ounce... We should approach it through education and health issues rather than a brutal reaction... There is need for change in policy, but it has to start with debate and discussion... I think the whole approach has to be reviewed.”

“The fight against HIV/AIDS requires leadership from all parts of government - and it needs to go right to the top. AIDS is far more than a health crisis. It is a threat to development itself.”

Needs Government Fighting Development Crisis Threat Aids Hiv Hiv Aids

Author:Kofi Annan

“To look into some aspects of the future, we do not need projections by supercomputers. Much of the next millennium can be seen in how we care for our children today. Tomorrow's world may be influenced by science and technology, but more than anything, it is already taking shape in the bodies and minds of our children.”

World Needs Mind Looks May Children Body Care Today Next Technology Tomorrow Shapes Aspect Our Children Human Rights Mind And Body Projection Science And Technology Millennium Supercomputers

Author:Kofi Annan

“Let us choose to unite the power of markets with the authority of universal ideals. Let us choose to reconcile the creative forces of private entrepreneurship with the needs of the disadvantaged and the requirements of future generations.”

Needs Force Challenges Creative Generations Inspire Authority Ideals Universal Entrepreneurship Provoking Requirements Future Generation Reconcile Disadvantaged

Book:The quotable Kofi Annan: selections from speeches and statements by the Secretary-General

Source: The quotable Kofi Annan: selections from speeches and statements by the Secretary-General

“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.”

World Needs Humanity Nations Understanding Religious Lines Effort Greater Dangerous Development Unity Tolerance Divided Peace And Tolerance Shared Humanity

Author:Kofi Annan

“I believe that our world needs an instrument of global action as never before in history. I believe that the United Nations is the instrument for securing peace and for giving people everywhere, in poorer countries as in richer, a real stake in that peace by promoting development and encouraging cooperation. But the United Nations is only an instrument, an actor in need of props and cues from its directors, And so I will paraphrase Winston Churchill: Give us the tools-the trust, the authority and the means-and we will do the job.”

“Human rights education is much more than a lesson in schools or a theme for a day; it is a process to equip people with the tools they need to live lives of security and dignity. On this International Human Rights Day, 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.”

“We need to keep hope alive and strive to do better.”

Needs Alive Strive Keeping Hope

Author:Kofi Annan

“Many African leaders refuse to send their troops on peace keeping missions abroad because they probably need their armies to intimidate their own populations.”

Needs Leader Army Population Refuse Missions Troops Intimidating

Author:Kofi Annan

“Above all else, we need a reaffirmation of political commitment at the highest levels to reducing the dangers that arise both from existing nuclear weapons and from further proliferation.”

Needs Political Levels Danger Weapons Highest Commitment Nuclear Arise Nuclear Weapons Reducing Disarmament Proliferation Nuclear Disarmament Nuclear Proliferation

Book:Wir die Völker

Source: Wir die Völker

“We must ensure that the global market is embedded in broadly shared values and practices that reflect global social needs, and that all the world's people share the benefits of globalization.”

People World Needs Values Social Practice Share Benefits Globalization Embedded Shared Values Economic Globalization

Author:Kofi Annan

“In their greatest hour of need, the world failed the people of Rwanda.”

People World Needs Hours Rwanda

Author:Kofi Annan

“We need to think of the future and the planet we are going to leave to our children and their children.”

Thinking Needs Children Planets Our Children

Author:Kofi Annan

About the Author

Born: April 8, 1938
Known for: Diplomat
Quotes: 336

Related Topics

World People Humans Ifs Development Nations Needs Country Rights Security Human Rights Thinking International Poverty States United United Nations War Wells Should

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

The quotable Kofi Annan: selections from speeches and statements by the Secretary-GeneralRelated source material

We the Peoples: A UN for the Twenty-First CenturyRelated source material

Wir die VölkerRelated source material

Interventions: A Life in War and PeaceRelated source material

The question of intervention: statements by the Secretary-GeneralRelated source material

Similar Authors

Mary RobinsonBrowse related quotes
Ban Ki-moonBrowse related quotes
Anna LindhBrowse related quotes
Alfred-Maurice de ZayasBrowse related quotes
Aung San Suu KyiBrowse related quotes
Jimmy CarterBrowse related quotes
Barack ObamaBrowse related quotes
Muhammad YunusBrowse related quotes
Franklin D. RooseveltBrowse related quotes
Howard ZinnBrowse related quotes