“[...] We are all duty-bound to think and learn constantly, to learn from the lessons of history and continue till our last breath [...]”.
“For the first time in human history, our species is facing a real threat of extinction. It is endangered not only by the destruction of its natural habitat, but also by grave political threats, increasingly sophisticated weapons of mass destruction and extermination, and extremist doctrines backed by lethal and annihilating force.”
“Men do not make history. Subjective factors can accelerate or delay major events, even for relatively long periods, but they are not a decisive factor, nor can they prevent the final outcome. Extremely serious accidents of human or natural origin, a nuclear war, the accelerated destruction of the environment and a relatively abrupt change in the climate can alter all estimates and forecasts made by the most visionary talents of our species. All of these things could still be avoided.”
“In peoples’ history, it has been subjective factors that have brought forward or delay outcomes, independently of the leaders’ worth.”.
“What transforms a president into a historical personage, who has been able to reach that position because of his merits, does not lie in the person, but in the need for him at a determinate moment in the history of his nation.”
“Another terrible problem that we are suffering (...) is that of the aggression to our national identities, the ruthless aggression to our cultures, as never before in history, the trend towards a universal monoculture. How can anyone conceive such world? It is not a world order that combines the wealth and culture of many countries, but a world order that, by definition, destroys culture, a globalization that inevitably destroys culture.”
“One must have faith in history. One must have faith in the peoples. That encourages us in this fight, and teaches us”.
“What we are asking for, and should definitely fight for, is for the inevitable globalization taking place today according to the laws of history to be the globalization of fraternity and cooperation among all peoples, of sustainable development and a fair distribution and rational use of the abundant material and spiritual riches that man can create with his hands and mind, as an indispensable premise for the inescapably common homeland of a humanity that can, and should, endure”.
“For 50 years, we have been deceived with the promise of reducing the extensive gap between the poor and the rich countries that has continued to widen every minute of this half century since the war. The so-called reciprocity would be an outrageously arbitrary historical injustice.”
“Globalization is inevitable. It would be useless to oppose a law of history, but this one presently unfolding can, from an equally historical perspective, be transformed; and it should definitely be transformed, otherwise our species would not be able to survive. Perhaps, it is already late but it would be better not to wait until it is too late.”