Mahathir Mohamad Quotations

Whether the attackers are acting on their own or on the orders of their government; whether they are regulars or irregulars, if the attack is against civilians then they must be considered terrorists,

We liberalized because we believed in the free market,

must stop both the Palestinians and Israelis from mutual massacre.

I wish to announce I am resigning from UMNO and all positions in the National Front,

I have decided, ... It's been a long time.

Businesses, large and small, have been bankrupted. The social well-being of the people has been disrupted.

If we mind our own business, it will be better for everybody,

It is possible to impoverish a country merely by reducing the value of their currency, ... What we have grown is still there, but the value of our wealth has diminished 50 percent.

Sudden change, even if it is for the good, is disruptive. Democracy for people who are not used to it can undermine stability, resulting in war even.

There are links among Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines on this. I believe Singapore too, although I don't have the facts,

unable to accept the absolute freedom that you believe in. ... One day perhaps we will be comfortable with your values, but for the moment we are not comfortable.

Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.

Islam is not just for the seventh century AD. Times have changed. Whether we like it or not, we have to change,

The terrorists may get away. Even if they are killed or captured, so long as there are still terrorists around, there's no guarantee that others will not terrorize.

Praise Allah, we must be thankful for the situation in our country because a transition of power in the government would normally be plagued with all sorts of problems, chaos, power struggle and so forth,

People tend to respond more positively to the friendly approach than to confrontations. Pushed into a corner, even the weakest will fight.

Any slowness in the inflow of foreign funds is only temporary.

ASEAN must resist and reject such attempts at coercion,

This is not a matter discussed by the party. That is my prerogative. That is my responsibility and I do not need to refer to anyone,

They must never claim they are the chosen people, who cannot be criticized at all,

It's an old-fashioned idea, but he thinks whites are superior to colored people. So since we are brown people, we must be stupid,

Foreigners who once colonized us, who have done nothing to help us, these foreigners have no good intentions,

It's their country, so I don't know what we can do about it. Of course I'm upset. I am not a thief, I am not a terrorist,

I just don't think I should be around interfering with things.

I read that the investigation is not complete. Statements have yet to be recorded from several other people,

If I am required at the court and it is relevant, I suppose I will have to go. That is the law. There is nothing I can do about it,

He can do that at some other time. But APEC is not the time,

The Europeans killed six million Jews out of twelve million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them,

Most developing countries would know Malaysia quite well. Why? It is because we believe in contacts. We offer them some help for training, for example. We call it 'technical cooperation'.

Malaysians, during the colonial period, were not given the top positions: we were always subordinate. Fortunately for us, the people who took over were mainly civil servants: people who were serving the Government.

The UN is hardly democratic.

The Commonwealth is a mixture of developing and developed world, in which the developed countries were very influential and their policies hold sway most of the time.

I thought that the United Nations is a creature of the five super-powers who were given veto powers. I don't like veto powers at all.

Currency trading is unnecessary, unproductive and totally immoral. It should be stopped.

When I became Prime Minister, I looked back on what was done before - what were the policies and actions before - and I thought that I need to be critical if I'm going to do anything at all.

When you have elections in which 90% or 95% or 99% of those elected come from one party, then I think there is some fraudulent act.

Developing countries like Malaysia should have a say in changing the world financial system since we have faced the problems that it has caused.

Actually, I invited many Commonwealth leaders to come to Malaysia. They did not accept my invitation. By that, I mean, they didn't say they didn't accept, but they just didn't come here.

Membership of an organisation is good, as long as you can make yourself heard.

Even in South Africa, the Commonwealth were not doing anything, and their attitude was to tolerate apartheid in South Africa. There was a lot of lip service being paid to the need to stop this practice, but nothing was done.

Some people say that we here have no freedom of religion, ... In reality, the people in that country are the ones who were forced to embrace a religion.

I know the situation of the Commonwealth generally, and I know that the aim should be to make the Commonwealth much more relevant to the poorer countries.

History should remember Blair and Bush as the killers of children or as the lying prime minister and president.

Once started, religious strife has a tendency to go on and on - to become permanent feuds. Today we see such intractable inter-religious wars in Northern Ireland, between Jews and Muslims and Christians in Palestine, Hindus and Muslims in South Asia and in many other places. Attempts to bring about peace have failed again and again. Always the extremist elements invoking past injustices, imagined or real, will succeed in torpedoing the peace efforts and bringing about another bout of hostility.

If you know each other well, you want to do business with people you know well. You don't do business with strangers.

The Malays are spiritually inclined, tolerant and easy-going. The non-Malays, and especially the Chinese, are materialistic, aggressive and have an appetite for work. For equality to come about, it is necessary that these strikingly contrasting races adjust to each other.

I'm a fundamentalist in the true sense. That is to say, I follow the fundamentals of religion... But for over 1,400 years people have been interpreting and re-interpreting the religion to suit their own purpose! ... These [extremist and terrorist acts] are not Islamic fundamentals any more than the Christians who burned people at the stake are fundamentalist. They are actually deviating from the teachings of the religion!

No one should have extra influence on an organisation. We should always regard ourselves as equals in the organisation, and we should be concerned about each other's problems.

Any organisation has a future, provided it is properly led and it sticks to the objective of that organisation.

I'm brash and abrasive but that's because I've noticed when people are nice and polite they never get anywhere.

I cannot keep quiet even when I am a lone voice.

We need an opposition to remind us if we are making mistakes. When you are not opposed you think everything you do is right.

If you can't be famous, at least you can be notorious.

Knowledge has always been important, of course. The ancient Egyptians did not raise the stones for the pyramids relying on the incantations of their gods. The waters in the irrigation canals of the great Indus Civilisation did not flow according to the laws of ignorance. Knowledge has always been power and wealth.

I not only think but also look and study things carefully. When I travel around, I look at things carefully, make comparisons of what I see. I don't accept things at face value, you cannot trust what you hear or see. Don't jump to conclusions without thinking.