Mangosuthu Buthelezi Quotes

Our purpose is to be up here to resolve these issues. Our purpose is to be up here and represent the people.

I feel like I've always been a great mediator.

My job is to keep everyone together, strong big egos, and keep the peace in the family.

My career was always about working with people, and understanding issues and problems and helping them to solve those issues and problems. How you deal with people - that's what diplomacy is all about. So while I'm not a career diplomat, many of the skills I had seemed to directly translate into the diplomatic arena.

I've grown up a little bit. I understand the importance of the negotiation. It is a collective act.

Conflict cannot survive without your participation.

Sharon is capable of making peace.

The only thing you think of is that you are in the middle and that you've got to find a way to stop it.

My first choice was to work it out with Larry Brown. I needed Larry and I gave him 50 million bucks. This is a situation that I'm in and I'll handle it and I'll make it work.

You can't serve on every committee. But you can know what happened, what the debate was, who said what.

On the other hand, the waging of peace as a science, as an art, is in its infancy. But we can trace its growth, its steady progress, and the time will come when there will be particular individuals designated to assume responsibility for and leadership of this movement.

The best way to solve problems and to fight against war is through dialogue.

People have a huge desire to be listened to, for politicians to take the time to understand their problems.

I think what helps me is that delegations of all sizes - the small, the medium, the large, the largest - they all have seen me in action. They all have seen me unlocking blockages, unlocking impasses for several years now, and they all know that... I can bring a constructive mood to the table.

When you have a conflict, that means that there are truths that have to be addressed on each side of the conflict. And when you have a conflict, then it's an educational process to try to resolve the conflict. And to resolve that, you have to get people on both sides of the conflict involved so that they can dialogue.

Talk is over-rated as a means of settling disputes.

History is filled with tragic examples of wars that result from diplomatic impasse. Whether in our local communities or in international relations, the skillful use of our communicative capacities to negotiate and resolve differences is the first evidence of human wisdom.

I think we can work through a lot of these issues.

I have a talent for dealing with difficult men.

Directing a movie is a little bit like being back in student government and putting on the homecoming dance. You're like, 'You put up the streamers, and you hire the DJ, and you get the punch bowl.' Some people are just like, 'This dance sucks.' And you're like, 'No no, this dance is awesome!' You have to be really positive.

A director must be a policeman, a midwife, a psychoanalyst, a sycophant and a bastard.

My speech has to have some substance to it. I don’t care if we make a peace treaty or declare war or something. Otherwise, they’re going to run us out of town.

There is no conflict that can’t be solved.

You don’t quit when you are in the middle of a conflict…. My job was not to have a fit and walk out. My job was to give the President my best advice.

What matters is not whether one talks to adversaries but what one says to them, which strategies of engagement are set in place, and how competently they are executed.