John Hume Quotes

I never thought in terms of being a leader. I thought very simply in terms of helping people.

We did not seek ideological confrontation.

Total ghettoization, because they were in charge of public housing, the local council, and they deliberately located people in a ghetto situation in order to ensure that they maintained control.

When people are divided, the only solution is agreement.

You are the generation that will be leading in the new century and the new millennium, so the challenge is to make sure that your influence is used to ensure that the entire world learns that Humanity transcends difference, that difference is indeed the very essence of Humanity.

I grew up in Derry, of course, and it was - Derry was the worst example of Northern Ireland's discrimination.

The only thing I shall talk about is my sporting achievements at school. My primary sporting achievement at school was that I dodged games for two complete years and was well through the third year before they discovered that I had completely avoided all games.

In coming to that agreement, my party had a clear philosophy throughout. In Northern Ireland, we should have institutions that respected the differences of the people and that gave no victory to either side.

We're much closer together in the world today than we ever were in the psot. Given that it is a much smaller world, we are in a stronger position to shape that world. As we enter the new century, and anew millennium, let us create a world in which there is no longer any war or any conflict.

Before the arrival of the Credit Union, people who were from the poor background or a working class background couldn't borrow from banks.

I went to the local schools, the local state primary school, and then to the local grammar school. A secondary school, which technically was an independent school, it was not part of the state educational system.

In working class districts, you had several families living together in the one house, and it was very difficult to get a house, because the politicians who controlled housing were doing so in a very discriminatory fashion.

They divided the city into three electoral wards, and in one ward there was 70 percent of the people, the Catholic population, and they elected eight representatives to the city council.

The basic policy of the British Government was that since the majority of people in Northern Ireland wished to remain in the United Kingdom, that was that. We asked what would happen if the majority wanted something else, if the majority wanted to see Irish unity.

If the word 'No' was removed from the English language, Ian Paisley would be speechless.

Difference is of the essence of humanity.

I was grateful for the opportunity to make a difference. The political violence really started in 1970-1971. The political difficulties start a little bit beyond that.

I think that's not a question that one can answer accurately. I read a whole range of books, quite a lot of history at the time, and still do read a lot. I read very widely.

My father was a civil servant, fairly sort of middle ranking, low to middle ranking. He worked almost entirely in what was then called Administrative Labour, dealing with employment and unemployment issues.

That's the strategy that myself and my party have pursued and are pursuing.