Mohamed ElBaradei Quotes

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.

The Nobel Peace Prize is a powerful message. A durable peace is not a single achievement, but an environment, a process and a commitment.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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.

Democracy is not an instant coffee.

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.

Democracy is more than a ballot box.

If the world does not change course, we risk self-destruction.

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

Well, first of all, we now have everybody with the exception of India, Pakistan, and Israel, and I dont think these three countries are going to join by simply providing them an incentive, in terms of technology.

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

The Egyptians have grown in confidence, theyve tasted freedom, and theres no way back.

Challenging the integrity of the non-proliferation regime is a matter which can affect international peace and security.

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

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.

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

Israel is the number one rogue state threat to Middle Eastern peace with its nuclear arms and acts of outright aggression towards its peaceful neighbours Syria and Lebanon - and genocidal actions against the marginalised Palestinians of the West Bank - and Gaza in particular.

When you have half of Caironese in slums, when you don't have clean water, when you don't have a sewer system, when you don't have electricity, and on top of that you live under one of the most repressive regimes right now... Well, put all that together, and it's a ticking bomb. It's not of a question of threat; it is question of looking around at the present environment and making a rational prognosis.

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.

Nobody wants any country to have nuclear weapons.

We still live in a world where if you have nuclear weapons, you are buying power; you are buying insurance against attack.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

In April I founded the Constitution Party. With the Social Democrats and all liberal powers we will combine against the Islamists. We still have a chance and we should not waste the awakening; that would be a tragedy. Young people want more personal freedom and better jobs. They want a clear word from the West against Mohammed Morsi. If Americans and Europeans really believe in the values that they are always preaching then they must help us and pressure Morsi.

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

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.

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.

Egypt is indeed deeply divided. Without reconciliation we have no future. The Muslim Brotherhood is an important part of our society. I very much hope that it will participate in the next round of talks. I will be the first to protest if the imperative of fairness isn't adhered to.

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.

Almost all of the liberal and Christian members of the constitutional commission have withdrawn, because we all fear that the Muslim Brotherhood will pass a document with Islamist undertones that marginalizes the rights of women and religious minorities. Who sits in this group? One person, who wants to ban music, because it's allegedly against Sharia law; another, who denies the Holocaust; another, who openly condemns democracy.

We have no functioning parliament in Egypt and months ago Mohammed Morsi assumed legislative functions. Now he's decided that there should be no opposition to the laws that he makes and that he is authorized to pass any national security measure. It is difficult to be more absolutist than that. And the constitutional convention - what a sad gathering; it threatens to send us back to the darkest period of the Middle Ages.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi grabbed full power for himself. Not even the pharaohs had so much authority, to say nothing of his predecessor Hosni Mubarak. This is a catastrophe - it a mockery of the revolution that brought him to power and an act that leads one to fear the worst.

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.

The simple fact is that there is a limited amount of water on the planet, and we cannot afford to be negligent in its use. We cannot keep treating it as if it will never run out.

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

How can you run for president if you dont know the job description?

I grew up in a conservative household. That was the life of the time in Egypt: a conservative, middle-class household.

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