Bashar Al-Assad Quotes

This is the Middle East, where every week you have something new; so whatever you talk about this week will not be valuable next week.

I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria.

Conversely, it is correct to say that bringing about peace would be the best way to fight terror.

Worry does not mean fear, but readiness for the confrontation.

The most significant indicator that there is no disaster in Iraq is the fact that there is no exodus.

No government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person.

Those who arrived on America's tanks are not credible in Iraq.

Under Syrian law, a journalist is not allowed to report on military matters. This may be wrong or right, but that's just the way it is.

Is there an equality of power between America and Iraq? Definitely not; however, the Iraqi people are standing fast and are defending their land courageously.

My primary goal is to create prosperity.

Whether you call it terrorism or resistance, and whether you like Hamas or not, it is a political entity that no one can ignore.

Many people do not understand the difference between peace and a peace treaty. If you want to have real peace with normal relations between people, you need to have comprehensive peace.

Terrorism is a state of mind that on the one hand has to do with ignorance and, on the other hand, can be attributed to a feeling of desperation over the political situation, which at some point takes the form of revenge.

Israel does not care about the international public opinion.

As far as we are concerned, we Syria have not changed.

History teaches us that nobody can prevent a resistance group from arming when it has the support of the people.

It is even more so when it comes to Iraq, which is a large Arab country with scientific, material, and human resources and is able to accomplish, at the least, what Lebanon accomplished, and more.

Even a president makes mistakes.

I cannot afford to make mistakes.

The logical thing is to implement the Arab Defense Agreement.

I don't believe in war, I believe in the principle of deterrence.

Hizbullah is not a militia.

I don't want to talk about methods of killing. But what is the difference between a bomb worn on the body and one dropped from an airplane? Both of them kill people.

You cannot have democracy without the institutions. You cannot have a democracy that is built on the moods of self-interested people.

But the issue has to do with land, which is our land.

Reform has to be based on opening your mind and opening the mind does not come from decrees or laws. It comes from a whole set of circumstances, which if you do not have, anything you do will be not productive or will be counter-productive.

None of us and none of the Arabs trust Israel.

When Lebanon started its resistance it was a small and divided country.

Simply naming objectives isn't sufficient for a vision. If I say that I'm going to build a large palace, but I don't have any money to do so, then that is not a vision - it's an illusion.

If you ask Americans whether they've been successful at sealing the border with Mexico, they'll tell you that it's a very difficult proposition.

The problem is not the occupation, but how people deal with it.

The U.S. and Britain are incapable of controlling all of Iraq.

There is no such things as "Islamic terrorism," because terrorism differs from Islam. There's just terrorism, not Islamic terrorism. But the term "Islamic terrorism" has become widespread.

When our interests matched, the Americans have been good to us, and when the interests differed, they wanted us to mold ourselves to them, which we refused.

We, in Syria, our point of view stems from our experience.

Almost all countries have natural dividing lines, and when ethnic and religious partition occurs in one country, it'll soon happen elsewhere.

America must listen. It must listen to the interests of others. But the US government has no interest in similarities, no matter how obvious.

Personally, I do not support the concept of suicide bombings. This is not part of our [syrian] culture. But whether you condemn them or not, suicide bombings are a reality.

You have to be very closely linked to the beliefs of the people. This is the core issue. When there is divergence between your policy and the people's beliefs and interests, you will have this vacuum that creates disturbance.

Despite the ethnic diversity within each nation, the social fabric of the region by and large is one.

No doubt that the U.S. is a super-power capable of conquering a relatively small country, but is it able to control it?

Trust that the thing in life that excites you the most comes complete with all the tools necessary to support you in the doing of that thing. It is automatic; it is built in. All you need to do is act on the opportunities that doing that situation brings to you.

In the End, a Lie Is a Lie.

Politics is about realities, not logic.

We believe that Lebanon has been the first real experience for all the Arabs.

It's a dangerous thing when someone gets up in the morning and has nothing to eat.

You cannot reform your society or institution without opening your mind.

The Israeli lobby has clout in the U.S., which means that re-arranging the region and controlling its resources one way or another, will serve Israel through its control over the American administration.

[Enemies of Syria] are the enemies of the people and the enemies of God. And the enemies of God will go to hell.

The problem with the West is that they start with political reform going towards democracy. If you want to go towards democracy, the first thing is to involve the people in decision making, not to make it.

I am president, I don't own the country so they are not my forces.

Freedom and democracy are nothing but instruments, just like stability. The goal is called progress and growth. Anyone who puts freedom ahead of stability is hurting growth.

Think of the war against terrorism. In my view, Washington's approach can be compared to a doctor constantly banging away at a tumor instead of removing it surgically.

Every country has criminals who have to be fought. They can exist anywhere, including the government or the army - or outside the government and army.

The fact that there are people who criticize me doesn't mean that people hate me.

The first thing you have to learn is how to conduct dialogue and how to make it productive.

You in Lebanon, your power is no match to Israel. Israel, militarily, is more powerful than you and maybe it is more powerful than all the Arab countries, or most of them.

The place where the interests of all parties come together is the international community, along with its resolutions.

Today, the Iraqi citizen sees that America is coming and wants to occupy his country and kill him, and he is willing to experience for himself what happened in Palestine.

The captain doesn't think about death, or life, he thinks about saving his ship,

Armies are not only for offensives.

Since its very inception, Israel has been a threat.

It's not exactly fair to make a mistake yourself and then start blaming others for it.