Bui Diem quotes

“We South Vietnamese, we are very concerned about the ah, the fact that the communists are - were very shrewd in trying to take advantage of the American presence in South Vietnam to make the propaganda that they were the only one who fought for the independence of the country and against the, only foreigners, first the French and after that the Americans.”
-- Bui Diem

#Country Quotes #Independence Quotes #Trying Quotes

“I would say that the Vietnamese should remember that they didn't have exactly the same mobility the way the Americans have. They didn't have the same kind of equipment that the Americans have and that they have to fight their own war.”
-- Bui Diem

#War Quotes #Fighting Quotes #Mobility Quotes

“The South Vietnamese were perhaps a little bit slow in doing things, they jump on, on the problem and they try to do themselves everything. Or, they try to have some short cuts with the, those people they were dealing with.”
-- Bui Diem

#Cutting Quotes #People Quotes #Trying Quotes

“The Americans are impatient by nature.”
-- Bui Diem

#Impatient Quotes

“With all my traveling around the world I would say that South Vietnam was not as corrupted as people want to talk about it because it is a matter of degrees.”
-- Bui Diem

#People Quotes #Degrees Quotes #Vietnam Quotes

“I have to admit it that the large quantity of US money poured into Vietnam provoked ii...a lot of bad habits.”
-- Bui Diem

#Vietnam Quotes #Habit Quotes #Quantity Quotes

“The way the Americans behaved created among the South Vietnamese a lot of habits, a lot of bad habits I would say.”
-- Bui Diem

#Way Quotes #Habit Quotes #Vietnamese Quotes

“A country scratching a lazy irritation at sagging doorjambs and late trains, whose greatest attribute is a collective, smelly tolerance, where a chap will put up with almost everything, which means he won't care about anything enough to get out of a chair.A country of public insouciance and private, grubby guilt, where you can believe anything as long as you don't believe it too fervently. A country where the highest aspiration is for a quiet life.”

“American statesmen might like some Europeans more than others and even detect quaint resemblances to their own outlook; but they no more committed themselves to a particular group or country than a nineteenth-century missionary committed himself to the African tribe in which he happened to find himself.”

“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.”

“Great research universities must insist on independence from government and on the exercise of academic freedom.”

“The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, an almost fanatical love of justice and the desire for personal independence -- these are the features of the Jewish tradition which make me thank my stars that I belong to it.”

“Away with the idea of getting independence first, and looking for liberty afterwards... Our liberties, once lost, may be lost forever.”

“A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.”

“I, personally, am trying to get more and more involved with the gay and lesbian movement, very much so.”

“I think that maybe that's my weakness, in that I don't know how to do it, so I just do what I do and try to do it as passionately and as well as I can.”

“Better to be too early and have to try again, than be too late and have to catch up.”

Source : Twitter post from Feb 24, 2013