Barbara Walters Quotes

For the last 60 years, dictator Fidel Castro was America's most persistent adversary. Although Castro formally handed off to his brother, Raul, eight years ago, the communist leader was a symbolic force in Cuba and around the world.

Fidel is really a special case. He's a personality of history.

Meeting Fidel Castro was really cool. It's cool because it's Fidel, and it's a world leader, and there's so much history behind the man and who he is in this hemisphere. And then at the end of the day, he's, I think, just like a big mayor. There's only, like, 11 million people in Cuba. He's a big mayor.

He [Castro] is a genius. We spoke about everything.

[Fidel Castro] has a very good [human rights] record.

Comandante Fidel Castro is a gifted communicator. He is a brilliant, brilliant mind. But the thing that struck me most about him was he was not a "nationalist."

Fidel Castro claimed that history would absolve him, but it can also condemn him.

Fidel Castro was a charismatic revolutionary and a ruthless leader who allowed no dissent.

Fidel Castro for me is like a father.

Che came in 1963, shortly after I had come to power.

I spent a great deal of time with Che Guevara while I was in Havana. I believe he was far less a mercenary than he was a freedom fighter.

Exploring Castro's pawns in Cuba and exposing anything negative also makes you a pawn to all his enemies 90 miles away. Both sides don't have much of a track record for nuance of opinion.

Of course Castro was Cuba's longest serving president. After all, he was a dictator.

Fidel Castro just talked a long time, and he talked and he talked and he talked and he talked... and he talked during the meeting. I think it was about four hours. But I guess that's part of the Castro spirit.

Vladimir Putin is a dictator.

Comandante Fidel Castro is the greatest revolutionary of the 20th Century, bar none.

The death of Fidel Castro, of course, is not as significant when you first look at it, because Raul Castro, his brother, has been in power for years. But, in fact, he's been a looming figure even during his illness that I think has made a difference in holding us back in trying to open up more negotiations and move ahead with opening up relations between America and Cuba.

I am quite an admirer of Fidel [Castro]. For me, Fidel is the first and the best man in solidarity with the peoples of the world. Fidel shares not just what he does not need, but every little thing he has. That is called solidarity.

Fidel Castro is loved down into the children. The Revolution won't die!

We should look to (Castro) as one of the Earth's wisest people, one of the people we should consult.

Fidel Castro gave it all to make his nation serviceable to all who desire real change. That's why I love Fidel Castro, and that's why he will never die.

I like Fidel Castro and his beard.

Mustafa Kemal's government was certainly authoritarian, but he had a saying which is profoundly true, I don't remember the exact words, but what he said was that I am a dictator so that there will never again be a dictator in Turkey, and I think that was right. He felt that there were certain changes which needed to be made. He wanted to make those changes, he felt they were essential.

The last thing America needs is four more years of Barack Obama.

The idea that people are incapable of making up their own minds about people is something that Obama and his party live with every day.