There is never a humanitarian solution for a humanitarian crisis. The solutions for the humanitarian crisis are always political ones.
Antonio GuterresRead
As a global community, we face a choice. Do we want migration to be a source of prosperity and international solidarity, or a byword for inhumanity and social friction?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the choice we have in how we perceive and handle migration, either positively or negatively.
Antonio Guterres presents a critical reflection on the global issue of migration, highlighting that it can either be seen as an opportunity for prosperity and unity among nations or as a cause of division and cruelty. This choice reflects our collective values and impacts not only the migrants themselves but also the societies that host them.
Themes
MigrationProsperitySolidarityInhumanityCommunity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about global challenges, this quote can highlight the importance of cooperation for a positive outcome.
More from Antonio Guterres
All quotes βAs a global society, we have the technology, resources and the know-how to make a massive difference to living standards everywhere, including for refugees.
Antonio GuterresRead
The world's problems transcend borders.
Antonio GuterresRead
Humanitarian response, sustainable development, and sustaining peace are three sides of the same triangle.
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The fact that societies are becoming increasingly multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multi-religious is good. Diversity is a strength, not a weakness.
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Syria has become the great tragedy of this century - a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history.
Antonio GuterresRead
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They were indeed what was known as 'old money', which meant that it had been made so long ago that the black deeds which had originally filled the coffers were now historically irrelevant. Funny, that: a brigand for a father was something you kept quiet about, but a slave-taking pirate for a great-great-great-grandfather was something to boast of over the port. Time turned the evil bastards into rogues, and rogue was a word with a twinkle in its eye and nothing to be ashamed of.
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It is my experience that the world itself has a role to play in our liberation. Its very pressures, pains, and risks can wake us up -release us from the bonds of ego and guide us home to our vast true nature.
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Men are always more inclined to pitch their estimate of the enemy's strength too high than too low, such is human nature.
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The center that I cannot find is known to my unconscious mind.
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What we see in the outer is but a reflection of the inner, because we surround ourselves with a picture of our own beliefs. In other words, we manifest in general what we seriously think and believe. So if we want to find out what our habitual thinking is like, we have but to look around us and ask ourselves what we really see.
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