"We're trying to build up a democratic federal union. We have some ways to go before we become a working democratic federal nation such as yours, but I'm sure we'll get there."

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

"I am committed to the democratic transition of Myanmar."

"The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit, born of an intellectual conviction of the need for change in those mental attitudes and values which shape the course of a nation’s development."

"I would rather be a prisoner of my convictions than a slave to my fears."