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Education Quote by Ban Ki-moon

"Education is hope and dignity. Education is growth and empowerment. Education is the basic building block of every society and a pathway out of poverty"

About this Quote

Ban Ki-moon frames education not as a private good but as civic infrastructure. That choice matters. By stacking the phrase "Education is..." three times, he gives the line the cadence of a credo, turning schooling into something larger than policy: a moral foundation for social order. The rhetoric is deliberately cumulative. Hope and dignity speak to the individual; growth and empowerment widen the lens to communities; "the basic building block of every society" scales it up to the level of nations and institutions. He moves from the intimate to the structural in a few beats.

The subtext is diplomatic as much as humanitarian. Ban was a UN secretary-general who spent years translating moral urgency into language governments could publicly endorse. "Hope", "dignity" and "poverty" are not accidental words; they bridge human rights discourse and development economics. He is making an argument that can travel across borders, ideologies, and donor conferences. Education becomes the rare cause that sounds compassionate, pragmatic, and politically safe all at once.

There is also a quiet rebuke embedded in the quote. If education is the building block of every society, then denying it is not just unfortunate policy failure; it is a form of social sabotage. And if it is a pathway out of poverty, poverty is not being treated as destiny but as something structured, and therefore changeable.

What makes the line effective is its refusal to romanticize learning as self-improvement alone. Ban links classrooms to dignity, power, and mobility, insisting that education is where personal aspiration and public stability meet.

Quote Details

TopicLearning
SourceLaunch of the UN 'Education First' initiative, remarks as prepared for delivery, 26 September 2012
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Ki-moon, Ban. (2026, March 8). Education is hope and dignity. Education is growth and empowerment. Education is the basic building block of every society and a pathway out of poverty. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/education-is-hope-and-dignity-education-is-growth-185750/

Chicago Style
Ki-moon, Ban. "Education is hope and dignity. Education is growth and empowerment. Education is the basic building block of every society and a pathway out of poverty." FixQuotes. March 8, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/education-is-hope-and-dignity-education-is-growth-185750/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Education is hope and dignity. Education is growth and empowerment. Education is the basic building block of every society and a pathway out of poverty." FixQuotes, 8 Mar. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/education-is-hope-and-dignity-education-is-growth-185750/. Accessed 29 Mar. 2026.

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Ban Ki-moon: Education Is Hope, Dignity and the Basis of Society
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About the Author

Ban Ki-moon

Ban Ki-moon (born June 13, 1944) is a Diplomat from Korea.

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