Quotes by Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao

After so much suffering, after enduring so much sacrifice, sanctioned and embraced by our people, what is it that the people of East Timor expect as a result of independence?

Although the population needed the food, they simply told me: Brother, we would rather you had brought us water.

And in these difficult times that the world faces, we must continue to strengthen the ideal of peace in the region and in the world.

Freedom goes hand-in-hand with mutual respect.

Freedom means to build a democratic system enshrined with the respect for fundamental rights of Man, of the human being, of the individuals.

I believe that when people have an occupation that allows them to provide for their families, the social dimension of human nature will emerge instinctively and lead people to help and organize others less privileged.

If a person has and airs a different view, s/he must not be viewed as an enemy, which is how some politicians or militants of political parties see it, and sometimes behave.

It is not enough to receive support, no matter, how needed it may be. It is fundamental to know how to receive this support and ensure that its result is exponential.

When all of us are required to think in the same way, we give away, all and each of us, our fundamental right to freedom of thought and expression. We become, once again, either slaves of an institutional majority or we return to dictatorship, where everything being decided by those on top is law.