Fernando Henrique Cardoso Quotes

I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all.

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

I believe in Democracy because it releases the energies of every human being.

The cause of Freedom and the cause of Peace are bound together.

I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.

Democracy is not an end in itself, but a means to achieve the sacred promises of human dignity, justice and peace.

The principal factors which influenced my life are 1) nonviolent tactics; 2) constitutional means; 3) democratic procedures; 4) respect for human personality; 5) a belief that all people are one.

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and ‘I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for which I am prepared to die for.

Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy. What does social democracy mean? It means a way of life which recognizes liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles of life.

We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.

But wherever we are, we must all, in our daily lives, live up to the age-old faith that peace and freedom walk together. In too many of our cities today, the peace is not secure because freedom is incomplete." (John F. Kennedy, June 10, 1963, American University speech)

Democracies don't go to war against each other, and by and large they don't sponsor terrorism. They're more likely to respect the environment and human rights and social justice. It's no accident that most of the terrorists come from non-democratic countries.

Civil rights are civil rights. There are no persons who are not entitled to their civil rights... We have to recognize that we have a long way to go, but we have to go that way together.

Let America be America, where equality is in the air we breathe.

There can be no greater good than the quest for peace, and no finer purpose than the preservation of freedom.

I recognize that in some cases it's more important to have freedom and justice than to have peace.

A just society will appear less spectacular, and less clearly defined, than a society with totalitarian leadership, theocratic goals.

Wise statesmen ... established these great self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men, were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity should look up again at the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began.

Freedom demands that we struggle for an extension of both equality and free expression, not regard one as inimical to the other.

Education and justice are democracy's only life insurance.

Peace is more than just an absence of war. True peace is justice, true peace is freedom, and true peace dictates the recognition of human rights.

Freedom is merely privilege extended, unless enjoyed by one and all.

We must now, in the 21st century, protect democracy, one which rests on fundamental rights for all, regardless of skin color, gender, race or religion. Nothing less than that is at stake.

The fight for education and justice is inseparable from the struggle for economic equality, human dignity and security, and the challenge of developing American institutions along genuinely democratic lines.

The answer to violence is even more democracy, even more humanity...