Heads Of State

"Any drop of oil that goes to Israel will make me cut off the oil for you."

"Be honey to those who seek your friendship, but deadly poison to those who dare attack you."

"You [Kissinger] must have noticed, nothing in this dinner tonight carries foreign mark. The meat on the table comes from locally hunted camels. The delicacies all made on Arab land, from Arab resources. The lamps that give us light tonight, burn on fuel extracted from camel fat. If you dare come here, we would set our wells on fire and wander into the deserts. We, as you see, would survive. What would you do?"

"We are not the ones who say, 'We will work, but we are used to God's power to say: We have worked."

"Arm yourselves with science."

"The Islamic call, when it emerged from these places and spread its light to all parts of the earth, was a good call that calls for peace, calls for truth, calls for justice and calls for equality, and this is what our noble Sharia achieves, and this is what we must follow and adhere to."

"If I were not a king, I would be a teacher."

"I beg of you, brothers, to look upon me as both brother and servant. 'Majesty' is reserved to God alone and 'the throne' is the throne of the Heavens and Earth."

"Our constitution is the Quran."

"Our youth education is based on three pillars: belief, science and work."

"The livers are torn apart, and the wings are torn apart when we hear or see our brothers in religion, in the homeland, and in blood, their sanctities are violated, they are displaced and abused daily, not for something they committed, nor for the aggression they attacked, but for the love of control and aggression and to commit injustice."

"These incidents will never break down our determination nor undermine our achievements. Rather, they should encourage all parties to draw the necessary lessons and never detract from the imperative to continue our work with determination and enthusiasm because the dignity and invulnerability of Tunisia are a burden which are invested all Tunisian men and women. Thank you for your attention."

"[Tunisian] President Ben Ali welcomed me in a way that moved me. I did very much appreciate his kindness and that of all Tunisians."

"I take this opportunity to reiterate my thanks and my appreciation to my dear Brother Leader Muammar Gaddafi, Leader of the Libyan revolution, for his honourable initiative that our people have received with great satisfaction and of facilitating the movement and activities of Tunisian Libya sister and treat them just like the Libyans. This confirms a sincere brotherhood and the strong support we have always received from him and to the brotherly Libyan people."

"You have suffered a great loss. There is none better than Zine to govern Tunisia. Tunisia, a developed country that is a tourist destination, is becoming prey to hooded gangs, to thefts and fire. [The conditions in Tunisia reflect] chaos with no end in sight. I am concerned for the people of Tunisia, whose sons are dying each day. And for what? In order for someone to become president instead of Ben Ali? I do not know these new people, but we all knew Ben Ali and the transformation that was achieved in Tunisia. Why are you destroying all of that? [Do not be fooled by] WikiLeaks which publishes information written by lying ambassadors in order to create chaos."

"I think that Tunisia's achievements over the past two decades are now well known, and are testified to by numerous regional and international organizations and all honest observers. But what interests me in the first place is the feeling of all Tunisians that these achievements have positively changed their life."

"We respect the European judiciary system but we condemn the decision of the European courts which is in favor of corrupt figures from the former regime. Ben Ali and his clan are wanted in Tunisia for charges of corruption and money laundering."

"We want this Kingdom to be a beacon of light for humanity, now and fifty years from now."

"I won't accept that another drop of blood of a Tunisian be spilled."

"My body is such that I remain sane even after drinking all my buddies under the table."

"These events weigh on my heart to this day."

"I should like to stress that the party is alive, not because Gorbachev is general secretary of its central committee. If he ceases to be general secretary, another leader will come."

"Yanayev lived an interesting, difficult and worthy life. If they had been more decisive, they could have succeeded in preserving our country and completely turned around the difficult situation of that time."

"I will say to you once more loud and clear: Do write on any subject you choose. There are no taboos except what is prohibited by law and press ethics."

"The values and high virtues that Arafat embodied during his struggle for the Palestinian cause will inspire the Palestinian people so that they preserve their cohesion and unity and pursue their path to win back their national, legitimate and eternal rights."

"We consider the issue of Palestine our cause and the first Arab cause, and Palestine is more valuable to us than oil. Oil can be used as a weapon in battle if necessary. The Palestinian people must return to their homeland, even if it costs us all our lives."

"God gave man two ears and one tongue so we could listen twice as much as we talk."

"Passed the pub that saps your body And the church who'll snatch your money The Queen is dead, boys And it's so lonely on a limb"

"It is true that the queen does not have a political sphere of action, but she has a large domestic sphere of action. Her excellence befits her for the education of her sex, the supervision of children in their first years, in the household manners, the provisions to the poor and the sick (particularly of those of her sex), the tasteful decoration of the house, the arrangement of family celebrations, and the establishment of the courtly activity according to law."

"There is no Easter Bunny, there is no Tooth Fairy and there is no Queen of England."

"QUEEN, n. A woman by whom the realm is ruled when there is a king, and through whom it is ruled when there is not."

"The insuperable objection to monarchy is that the king or queen is elevated, and respect is accorded, for no reason other than birth ... No one who believes either in the claims of merit or in the pursuit of equality can defend the system."

"From the far reaches of the Mediterranean Sea to the Indus River, the faithful approached the city of Mecca. All had the same objective to worship together at the most sacred shrine of Islam, the Kaaba in Mecca. One such traveler was Mansa Musa, Sultan of Mali in Western Africa. Mansa Musa had prepared carefully for the long journey he and his attendants would take. He was determined to travel not only for his own religious fulfillment, but also for recruiting teachers and leaders, so that his realms could learn more of the Prophet's teachings."

"We will not accept any extremist ideology We are a Muslim people, for a moderate Islam, and will stay on this road."

"I will give you more and stronger ones. But if you still persist in refusing to listen to reason and decline to do my bidding, and if you wish deliberately to rush to your ruin, then I will shortly, in your presence, order your Castle to be stormed. (Here he pointed with one hand towards Fort Provintia.) My smart boys will attack it, conquer it, and demolish it in such a way, that not one stone will remain standing. If I wish to set my forces to work, then I am able to move Heaven and Earth; wherever I go, I am destined to win. Therefore take warning, and think the matter well over."

"On land you saw how the pride of Captain Pedel was so much humbled that he with his men, who are as foolish as himself, could not even bear the look of my men ; and how, on the mere sight of my warriors, they threw down their arms and willingly awaited their well-deserved punishment with outstretched necks. Are these not sufficient proofs of your incompetency and inability to resist my forces?"

"You Hollanders are conceited and senseless people. You will make yourselves unworthy of the mercy which I now offer you. You will subject yourselves to the highest punishment by proudly opposing the great force I have brought with the merest handleful of men which I am told you have in your castle."

"Are these not sufficient proofs of your incompetency and inability to resist my forces? I will give you more and stronger ones. But if you still persist in refusing to liften to reason and decline to do my bidding, and if you wish delibrately to rush to your ruin, then I will shortly, in your presence, order your castle [Fort Provintia] to be stormed. If I wish to set my force to work, then I am able to move heaven and Earth. Wherever I go I am destined to win. Therefore take warning, and think the matter over."

"This island was the dominion of my fatherand should descend to none other than myself. Foreigners must go."

"You Hollanders are conceited and senseless people; you will make yourselves unworthy of the mercy which I now offer; you will subject yourselves to the highest punishment by proudly opposing the great force I have brought with the mere handful of men which I am told you have in your Castle; you will obstinately persevere in this. Do you not wish to be wiser? Let your losses at least teach you, that your power here cannot be compared to a thousandth part of mine."

"You have by this time surely seen with your own eyes what your iron ships, with which you think you can accomplish wonders and on which you boast so much, can do against my junks; how one of them has been burned by one of my junks and has disappeared in smoke; how the others would have met with the same doom had they not taken to flight and gone out to sea."

""Do you have support among the workers, city dwellers, [and] the petty bourgeoisie?" Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin demanded of Afghan Prime Minister Nur Mohammed Taraki in a top-secret telephone conversation. "Is there still anyone on your side?" Taraki's response was chilling: "There is no active support on the part of the population. It is almost wholly under the influence of the Shiite slogans—follow not the infidels, but follow us." It was a meaningful moment in the history of Marxism-Leninism: an ideology that had claimed to know the path to a world proletarian revolution found itself confronting a regional religious revolution for which its analytical tools were wholly inadequate."

"You are the one who should quit! Because of drink and old age you have taken leave of your senses."

"Now we are proud that the government has moved from the class of the exploiters to the class of the people who were being exploited. And in the great name of the same class, I raise this nation's flag which is a strong symbol of this transfer."

"I noticed long ago that Amin has the tendency to concentrate power in his own hands but I did not attach any particular significance to this. However, recently this tendency has become dangerous."

"Everything will be all right. I know this room. Soldiers used to be quartered here. Now it's our turn."

"When our party took over political power, the exploiting classes and reactionary forces went into action. The only rusty and antiquated tool that they use against us is preaching in the name of faith and religion against the progressive movement of our homeland... They ought to be uprooted as a cancerous tumor is from the body of a patient in a surgical operation."

"The course of reform is in progress thanks to Decree No. 6 of the Revolutionary Council-one of the monumental achievements in the eyes of the regime. Under this decree, farmers with little or no land have been freed of the debts they had incurred to landlords and moneylenders. You have sharpened the class struggle in Afghanistan. The class struggle which we awaited for many long years is now gaining in intensity. Previously, nothing material existed for our people to awaken their political awareness and to make them rise against the feudal lords."

"We want to create a society in which our workers and farmers can afford to appear in handsome attire and enjoy a good life and health; we want this kind of society."

"Let me conclude by urging you strongly, comrades, to couple your studies and knowledge with action; find good, clean and pious comrades. You should not only be an example of political, social and moral piety in the army but throughout the country so that everyone will say that the Khalqis are truly honorable and trust worthy people to be proud of. Our comrades set such an example even before the revolution... Before the revolution, whoever wanted to punish one of our comrades would accuse him of being a Khalqi, for he had good morals and would not take bribes. It was on the basis of this piety, that is political and social piety, that we took over power."