There is never a humanitarian solution for a humanitarian crisis. The solutions for the humanitarian crisis are always political ones.
When two people are together, they are not two but six: what each one is, what each one thinks he or she is, and what each one thinks the other is. And what is true for people is also true for countries and organisations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the complexity of interpersonal relationships, highlighting that each person brings multiple perspectives to a relationship.
Antonio Guterres' quote illustrates that when people interact, they don't simply merge their identities; rather, multiple perceptions and interpretations come into play. Each person's self-view, their view of the other, and the layers of their interaction create a rich, multifaceted dynamic, both in personal relationships and in broader contexts like nations and organizations. This complexity requires understanding and empathy to navigate effectively.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop on team dynamics, this quote can illustrate the complexity of collaboration.
More from Antonio Guterres
All quotes →As a global society, we have the technology, resources and the know-how to make a massive difference to living standards everywhere, including for refugees.
The world's problems transcend borders.
Humanitarian response, sustainable development, and sustaining peace are three sides of the same triangle.
The fact that societies are becoming increasingly multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multi-religious is good. Diversity is a strength, not a weakness.
Syria has become the great tragedy of this century - a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history.
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Plain women know more about men than beautiful ones do. But beautiful women don't need to know about men. It's the men who have to know about beautiful women.
Ten long trips around the sun since I last saw that smile, but only joy and thankfulness that on a tiny world in the vastness, for a couple of moments in the immensity of time, we were one.
We invented marriage. Couples invented marriage. We also invented divorce,mind you. And we invented infidelity,too, as well as romantic misery. In fact we invented the whole sloppy mess of love and intimacy and aversion and euphoria and failure. But most importantly of all, most subversively of all, most stubbornly of all, we invented privacy.
Many people believe that introversion is about being antisocial, and that's really a misperception. Because actually it's just that introverts are differently social. So they would prefer to have a glass of wine with a close friend as opposed to going to a loud party full of strangers.
Handshaking means, 'I don't have a weapon.'