Mohamed ElBaradei Quotes

I hear that from so many different governments, people coming to me and saying, 'You should be careful'. But I don't want to go around with bodyguards.

The globalization that has swept away the barriers to the movement of goods, ideas and people has also swept with it barriers that confined and localized security threats.

I have a lot of interests in global issues, as you know, humanity, inequity, arms control, and I continue to be active on all these issues.

The U.S. engages with North Korea, so I don't see why they can't engage with Iran.

As long as some of us choose to rely on nuclear weapons, we continue to risk that these same weapons will become increasingly attractive to others.

Whether weapons exist in Iraq, Saddam Hussein or post-Saddam Hussein, it is a serious enough issue that require that we continue to go and make sure that Iraq does not have weapons.

I think the ultimate sense of security will be when we come to recognize that we are all part of one human race. Our primary allegiance is to the human race and not to one particular color or border. I think the sooner we renounce the sanctity of these many identities and try to identify ourselves with the human race the sooner we will get a better world and a safer world.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a religiously conservative group. They are a minority in Egypt. They are not a majority of the Egyptian people, but they have a lot of credibility because all the other liberal parties have been smothered for 30 years.

Democracy is more than a ballot box.

The gravest threat faced by the world is of an extremist group getting hold of nuclear weapons or materials.

If we are addressing the issue of weapons of mass destruction, we need to send a uniform, consistent message that there is zero tolerance to any country who is developing weapons of mass destruction, North Korea included.

Once in a while, I have to pinch myself to remind myself I am Nobel laureate, but that is not part of my work plan every day.

My conscience does not permit me to run for the presidency or any other official position unless it is within a democratic framework.

I lose my temper at home. I try to control my temper at work. Sometimes, if you are under a lot of pressure, you let off some steam, but I also try not to do that because it's unfair to my wife.

America is always a good target for a populist. In many countries, particularly authoritarian systems, if you want to get an extra bonus, you bash the Americans.

If I could have just 1 per cent of the money spent on global armaments, no one in this world would go to bed hungry.

In a democracy, when you get 20 million people in the street, you resign.

Unilateral preemption should not in any way be the model for how we conduct international relations.

Nuclear proliferation is on the rise. Equipment, material and training were once largely inaccessible. Today, however, there is a sophisticated worldwide network that can deliver systems for producing material usable in weapons.

Even with the best intentions, you can have a nuclear war, a nuclear holocaust, through miscalculation, through accidents.

We must abandon the unworkable notion that it is morally reprehensible for some countries to pursue weapons of mass destruction, yet morally acceptable for others to rely on them for security - and indeed to continue to refine their capacities and postulate plans for their use

Everybody's still talking about diplomacy and I'm very hopeful that as long as we talk about diplomacy, as long as we're not talking about enforcement measures, sanctions, et cetera, we are on the right track. But we need to accelerate the process.

Everybody has to chip in, I think, and see how we can have a functioning system of collective security where we do not continue to face the threat of countries trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction or particularly nuclear weapons.

We have lived for thousands of years together, Muslims and Christians; we are part of the same society.

I'm not a good small talker. I'm not into small talk, frankly.

What I see in the Arab world, in Egypt, everywhere is increasing radicalization.

I think people are distrustful of politicians and are looking for someone who is telling the truth with no hidden agenda.

If you bet on individuals instead of the people, you are going to fail.

I hope everybody will go back to the negotiating table. I've always said this is the only way forward.

The gap between rich and poor is widening dramatically. There's a hangar at the Cairo airport for private jets, billionaires are on the Forbes list, and Egypt's annual per-capita income is two thousand dollars. How can you sustain that?

Threat is in the eye of the beholder.

If they think they can get anyone who could have better handled the complex and difficult issues surrounding North Korea, Iran and other controversies, they are not understanding the world right now.

Egypt needs to catch up with the rest of the world. We need to be free, democratic, and - society where people have the right to live in freedom and dignity.

I still believe that any country understands that if they use nuclear weapons, they will be wiped out of existence. They could be irrational in many ways, but I don't think they're irrational to the point that they're ready to annihilate their own country.

No one should be put on trial without a valid reason. Former President Morsi must be treated with dignity. These are the conditions of national reconciliation.

You cannot apply your high standards to a country [Egypt] burdened with decades of autocratic rule. Our democracy is still in its infancy.

People talk about smart sanctions and crippling sanctions. I've never seen smart sanctions, and crippling sanctions cripple everyone, including innocent civilians, and make the government more popular.

You in the West have been sold the idea that the only options in the Arab world are between authoritarian regimes and Islamic jihadists. That's obviously bogus.

Everyone in the Middle East pretty much wants to come and be an American citizen, but pretty much everybody is angry with the U. S. foreign policy.

You're shooting yourself in the foot if you isolate or disempower the moderates.

I feel relieved that we discovered that Iraq did not have nuclear weapons.

Discipline is part of my professional training as a lawyer.

The Germans should be the first to sympathize with us [Egyptians]. They know how difficult it is to build a democracy following a dictatorship, and they were the first to be critical of Morsi's anti-democratic policies.

I think it is fair to say that it is under a great deal of stress, and if I am asking for significant changes, it is because the world is going through significant changes.

I guess law was always interesting to me because you deal with constants. I like to deal with constants, abstracts, constants and reason and ration, rational approaches to things. I don't know, I never really thought why I wanted to study law. But if you ask me whether I would do it again, absolutely.

I'm not a grassroots organizer; that is clear. I believe in a division of labor. I'm not trained to organize the grassroots, and grassroots has to come from the grassroots.

I think one country with nuclear weapons is one country too many.

The sooner we put Egypt on the right track, the sooner we would be able to have an Egypt that is modern, that is moderate, and that is acting as a beacon for freedom and liberty across the Arab world.

My sister-in-law works for a group that supports orphanages in Cairo. She and her colleagues take care of children left behind by circumstances beyond their control. They feed these children, clothe them, and teach them to read.

I am an Egyptian Muslim, educated in Cairo and New York, and now living in Vienna. My wife and I have spent half our lives in the North, half in the South. And we have experienced first hand the unique nature of the human family and the common values we all share.

The global community has become irreversibly interdependent, with the constant movement of people, ideas, goods and resources.

Nobody wants any country to have nuclear weapons.

You either have a civil society or you don't.

As much as we Egyptians treasure our military, acting alone it cannot provide the legitimacy to lay the foundations for democracy.

The time is right for a political solution and the way is negotiations.

The Israelis should understand that it is in their long-term interest to have a democratic Egypt as a neighbor, and that it is prudent to acknowledge the legitimate interests of the Palestinians and to grant them their own state.

You will not really have durable peace without a proper security structure in the Middle East.

Managing a country is like managing a company in many ways. It maybe involves more complicated issues, but it's the same skills.

I worry about a democracy having nuclear weapons as much as a dictatorship having nuclear weapons.

Well, I think we still have to verify whatever declaration we will get and make sure that it is comprehensive and accurate. So, that would take care of the past activities.

If a country is suspected of going nuclear, you need to understand why. Why does it feel insecure?

So, we need to delegitimize the nuclear weapon, and by de-legitimizing ... meaning trying to develop a different system of security that does not depend on nuclear deterrence.

Psychology is as important as substance. If you treat people with respect, they will go out of their way to accommodate you. If you treat them in a patronizing way, they will go out of their way to make your life difficult.

Israel claims it needs nuclear weapons as a deterrent against any threat to its existence. The Arab world in return feels that this is an imbalanced system; there is a sense of humiliation and impotence.

If Egypt were going to change, it is going to change through the young people.

It's up to any government to decide how to react to the denial of basic human rights anywhere in the world, including Egypt.

I argue that for every country to have an independent fuel cycle is the wrong way to go. Because any country which has a complete fuel cycle is a latent nuclear weapons country, in the sense that it is not far from making a nuclear weapon.

Libya is a good example of a country that has come to a realization that weapons of mass destruction threaten more than assure, and I hope that will be followed by others.

You can't, in the 21st century, continue to live in a system where people live under martial law for 30 years.

There is no religion that was founded on intolerance - and no religion that does not value the sanctity of human life.

The dream of democracy has long been enshrined in the hearts of the Egyptian people. It only needed awakening.

I'm used to politics at an international level: people put together an argument and, even if you vehemently disagree with them, well, you can recognise it's an argument and respond.

When I go to Iran, I see ... that there are all different shades and colors in Iran, from atheist to religious zealot. So Iran is no different than any other country. I mean, they are connected with the rest of the world.

Music gives me a lot of peace, either classic music with its structure or the spontaneity of Miles Davis. It brings the best in you.

It would be, in fact, very ominous if Iraq were to be able to get weapon-usable material, hydro-plutonium or highly enriched uranium from abroad.

At a time when the threat of nuclear arms is again increasing, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to underline that this threat must be met through the broadest possible international cooperation. This principle finds its clearest expression today in the work of the IAEA and its director general. In the nuclear non-proliferation regime, it is the IAEA which ensures that nuclear energy is not misused for military purposes, and the director general has stood out as an unafraid advocate of new measures to strengthen that regime.

We know North Korea has the plutonium that can go into the bomb,

I think the Egyptian people need to restore confidence that Americans, the U.S., means what they say when they talk about democracy, rule of law.

The international community must do a better job of controlling the risks of nuclear proliferation. Sensitive parts of the nuclear fuel cycle - the production of new fuel, the processing of weapon-usable material, the disposal of spent fuel and radioactive waste - would be less vulnerable to proliferation if brought under multinational control.

In my view, stability only comes with a government that is elected by the people and works for the people.

Whether one believes in evolution, intelligent design, or Divine Creation, one thing is certain. Since the beginning of history, human beings have been at war with each other, under the pretext of religion, ideology, ethnicity and other reasons. And no civilization has ever willingly given up its most powerful weapons.

Iran has the technology to produce the highly enriched uranium, which is not automatically meaning nuclear weapon.

Your economic and social development is linked to the kind of regime you have.

I'm a lawyer. I go for due process; I go for fairness and equity - these values mean a lot to me.

We now have the right to have immediate, unfettered access to any site in Iraq and we have the right to interview people, both inside and outside Iraq.

Only if you empower the liberals, if you empower the moderate socialists, if you empower all factions of society, only then will extremists be marginalised.