Zoya Phan quotes

“In fact, it is the dictatorship's policy that isolates the people of Burma while it reaches out to different countries every year and opens new embassies around the world. It is the dictatorship's policy that kills civilians and makes people poor. As long as the dictatorship is in power, foreign trade and investment in Burma will not benefit people. Instead, it will end up fueling the oppression in Burma.”
-- Zoya Phan

#Country Quotes #Years Quotes #Long Quotes

“What people in Burma need is a democratic federal Burma that guarantees autonomy, rights and protection for all, regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion or race.”
-- Zoya Phan

#Rights Quotes #Race Quotes #Ethnicity Quotes

“In Burma, economic engagement enriches the regime, as the economy is controlled by the regime. Economic engagement benefits this elite, not ordinary people. The money is spent on the military, stolen by the elite.”
-- Zoya Phan

#Military Quotes #People Quotes #Ordinary Quotes

“In Burma, we are being told by so-called experts and some governments that we must be patient and that there can be incremental change through Parliament. The UN did this, and failed spectacularly, and while they did, the human rights situation got worse. The dictatorship ignored the UN and international community, making not a single concession. Now we are being told again these Parliaments are new, we should engage with them and if improved they can bring positive change. I don't place any hope in that.”
-- Zoya Phan

#Rights Quotes #Government Quotes #Community Quotes

“To Lawren Harris art was almost a mission. He believed that a country which ignored the arts left no record of itself worth preserving.”

“I am raising my voice as a citizen of the country. I don?t want to enter politics.”

“Fifty-seven countries in the world, a third of the United Nations, do not recognize Israel. In a way, I think North Korea has better international relations than Israel.”

“I always thought the name of Utah’s major newspaper was some sort of weird misspelling of the word “desert.” But no, Deseret is the “land of the honeybee,” according to the Book of Mormon. I guess I should have figured they would have caught a typo in the masthead after 154 years.”

Source : A. J. Jacobs (2004). “The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World”, p.56, Simon and Schuster

“Med students panic their first year when they learn all the diseases. It's not until the second year that they learn the cures.”

Source : A. J. Jacobs (2012). “Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection”, p.27, Simon and Schuster

“I am shy to admit that I have followed the advice given all those years ago by a wise archbishop to a bewildered young man: that moments of unbelief 'don't matter,' that if you return to a practice of the faith, faith will return.”

“A man who has made up his mind on a given subject twenty-five years ago and continues to hold his political opinions after he has been proved to be wrong is a man of principle; while he who from time to time adapts his opinions to the changing circumstances of life is an opportunist.”

Source : "Uncommon Law". Book by A. P. Herbert, 1935.

“Three minutes thought would suffice to find this out; but thought is irksome and three minutes is a long time.”

Source : "Satires". Book by Juvenal, edited by A. E. Housman, p. XI, 1931.

“A human lifespan is less than a thousand months long. You need to make some time to think how to live it.”

Source : "This much I know". Interview with Tim Adams, www.theguardian.com. July 4, 2009.

“It's hard to say what I want my legacy to be when I'm long gone.”