Famous quotes by Public Servants

"Most of the results of using technical bugging devices were of little importance for my service. It may have been different in counter-intelligence, where bugs in flats, etc., were used to obtain a lot of information about what counter-intelligence was interested in"

Markus Wolf, Public Servant

"I feel that I, and the people under my command, tried to use all the traditional methods of recruiting agents which were also used by other intelligence services; adopting also means like pressure, money, sex - but that did not characterize my service"

Markus Wolf, Public Servant

"What we wanted from an agent depended on what he brought in"

Markus Wolf, Public Servant

"We were not realizing that, with just a machete, you can do a genocide"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"The real problem was not the troops; the real problem was that only the United States had the infrastructure to do the transport of troops with big planes, and then who will pay?"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"I used to say, I never talk about my successor, neither about my predecessor"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"There is a greater fatigue concerning the African problem today than five or 10 years ago. The situation now in Africa is worse today than it was 10 years ago"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"But at the beginning, our definition of the genocide was what happened to Armenia in 1917 or 1919, it's happened to the Jew in Europe, and we were not realizing - In our point of view, they have not the tools to do a genocide"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"A genocide in Africa has not received the same attention that genocide in Europe, or genocide in Turkey, or genocide in other part of the world. There is still this kind of basic discrimination against the African people and the African problems"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"We got involved in the Rwanda peace process for the simple reason that there was a decision which was taken by the Security Council, because the troops were in Uganda, and we decided to have a military presence"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"But definitely, when a decision is taken, or when you are trying to oppose a decision, you are in a weaker position than the member states, because they know more about the situation than you. We gave information, but they never gave us any information"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"When you have an accident, they will save their own people, and those who have worked with you or with the NGOs are left. Unfortunately, this happens always. It is not an excuse at all"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"The problem is, when you are writing something in retrospective, it needs a lot of courage not to change, or you will forget a certain reality, and you will just take in consideration your view today"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"The fact that you had disruptions in the peace process was not only in Rwanda. We had the same problem in Cambodia, we had the same problem in Mozambique, we had the same problem in Salvador"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"So this is why I'm always say happy that somebody mentions Rwanda, because behind Rwanda, we have Africa"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"It was a mistake. I was wrong, but I discovered this many years later. I was acting on the basis of this mandate given me by the most important leaders of the world: President Bush's father, Prime Minister of France, President Mitterand, the Chinese, everybody"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"For us, genocide was the gas chamber - what happened in Germany. We were not able to realize that with the machete you can create a genocide"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"For President Clinton, according to this discussion I had with him, Rwanda was a marginal problem"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"In Yugoslavia, I'd asked for additional forces too. I even went to meet the French prime minister, and I proposed additional forces... Nobody wanted to send troops"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"But I believe that the DPKO at this time was very much involved with American administration and was acting, taking on consideration the demand or the recommendation of the American administration. American administration was very powerful"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"Rwanda was considered a second-class operation; because it was a small country, we had been able to maintain a kind of status quo. They were negotiating, they'd accepted the new peace project, so we were under the impression that everything would be solved easily"

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Public Servant

"Based on assessment of all available information and following several expert consultations, I have decided to raise the current level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 4 to phase 5"

Margaret Chan, Public Servant

"The bottom line is, if somebody doesn't go through proper security screening, they're not going to go on the flight"

John Pistole, Public Servant

"But what I want to assure and reassure the public is we are concerned about your safety, your security, and your privacy. Let's work together in partnership to ensure that we can have the best way forward"

John Pistole, Public Servant

"What we ought not do is play politics with those who've been afflicted by disasters. This should not be controversial. Stop playing politics, do the right thing for the country, and let's make sure we're not making politics with disaster relief"

David Plouffe, Public Servant

"The American people are screaming out, saying it's unfair that the wealthiest, the largest corporations, who can afford the best attorneys, the best accountants, take advantage of these special tax treatments that the lobbyists have, along with lawmakers, have cooked in the books here"

David Plouffe, Public Servant

"We judged that a sudden, disorderly failure of Bear would have brought with it unpredictable but severe consequences for the functioning of the broader financial system and the broader economy, with lower equity prices, further downward pressure on home values, and less access to credit for companies and households"

Timothy Geithner, Public Servant

"The recognition that things that are not sustainable will eventually come to an end does not give us much of a guide to whether the transition will be calm or exciting"

Timothy Geithner, Public Servant

"Most consequential choices involve shades of gray, and some fog is often useful in getting things done"

Timothy Geithner, Public Servant

"I personally believe that there's going to be a good case for the government preserving some type of guarantee to make sure that people have the ability to borrow to finance a house even in a very damaging recession. I think there's going to be a good case for that"

Timothy Geithner, Public Servant

Page 14 of 41

See the complete list of public servant people