Kofi Annan Quotes

I wouldn't give up on the U.N. yet.

There's something beautiful about working in the one place in the world where the world is present, like United Nations. Otherwise, one would have to go to each of these countries to negotiate.

If the U.N. didn't exist, we'd be inventing it right now.

I will do everything in my power to ensure that our United Nations can live up to its name, and be truly united; so that we can live up to the hopes that so many people around the world place in this institution, which is unique in the annals of human history.

Today's message to Baghdad is very clear: the UN Security Council resolution expresses the unity and determination of the entire international community to assume its collective responsibility.

Universality of the UN is a worthwhile thing in its own self because it means that every country belongs, feels it has a stake, and participates, rather than going away and finding other methods of conducting international relations.

We've been able to organize the international community around it in ways that aren't going to go back.

The global work of the United Nations is not without reason compared to that of a family - striving for a common goal in concert with all members for a better future.

The United Nations is our one great hope for a peaceful and free world.

In the past, a blow to the international system's strongest power would have been welcomed by its rivals. In the wake of September 11, however, every significant government in the world declared its support for the United States.

The U.N. can be very frustrating and at times impotent, but it can also be a valuable forum for discussion and resolution of world problems. We should not walk away from it just because it's failed to live up to its promise.

Legislation that would withhold funding for the United Nations is fundamentally flawed in concept and practice, sets us back, is self-defeating, and doesn't work.

What we need now is a Treaty of the World not a Treaty of Rome.

I don't know that there is much the United States can do except work with the international community.

International cooperation, multilateralism is indispensable.

Community action is as valuable a principle on the international level as it has been domestically.

I really do hope that the Millennium Summit gives new impetus to the work of the United Nations.

Peace and security of our planet must be based on the collective action of all nations, not a few, however powerful they may be.

It is simply not feasible for sovereignty to be exercised unilaterally by individual nation-states, however powerful. It is a principle which will yield only slowly and reluctantly to the imperatives of global environmental cooperation.

International institutions like the UN can only be as effective as its members allow it to be.

Whatever its flaws, the United Nations is still the only institution that brings together all the countries of the world. And it is the best forum for the United States to spur countries to act - and to hold them accountable when they don't.

For decades, allies have counted on the U.S. to step up to the plate to work with them to protect the shared values we hold dear. As we face numerous international challenges, both old and new, we need to put more faith and investment in our international and diplomatic institutions, not weaken them.

We are now changing the culture at the United Nations. And with that, we're changing the culture in the world in the discussions that we're having.

At the United Nations, that's the number one comment I get is they're just so happy to see the United States lead again.

It's true that America can't solve every problem, but I don't know of any major problem in the world that can be solved without us.