Finland had a civil war less than 100 years ago, just like in Ireland. If you look at the history of newly independent nations, civil war is almost every time present, even in the United States.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

I do not want to speak about overpopulation or birth control, but I think education is the way to give new impetus to the poverty question.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

I recently reread an article of mine written in 1964, and I think it is still valid. There is not much difference. Many of the items on the agenda 37 years ago are still there.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

I think I can regard myself as a political decision-maker.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

If there is something I would like to do as President of the General Assembly, it is to place more emphasis on the issue of education, which enables a better life for women.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

If we go back in the history of different nations, violence and the use of force are part of their heritage. These are the traditions of mankind.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

In every European nation, there have been problems in history when the society was too divided.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

In Finland, we learned quite a lot from our own civil war. The wounds were visible when I was a boy, but my generation went into the Second World War and it united the Finnish nation, so I do not see any more wounds.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

In international or national crises, there are always questions of lack of confidence. You have to change the minds of the people in order to get results.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

My opinion on who's wrong or who's right has nothing to do with the fact that we have to bring together people who are against each other, to transform antagonism into cooperation.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

Peace enforcement is a much more difficult kind of operation than peacekeeping.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

That is where consensus-building begins-with the idea that you have your own truth, but that the negotiator on the other side of the table has his own truth as well.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

There are big issues, like the reform of the Security Council. These kinds of questions are something the President of the General Assembly must keep his eye on.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

There are many challenges, there are many obstacles; let us try to change the obstacles to advantages.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

We have the tools, but we have to learn how to use them. That is my political philosophy.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

What we can do as individuals may not be very much on the global scale, but we have to start the change by living as we are teaching.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

When the problems in Northern Ireland started, it was not a question of Protestantism or Catholicism, because the Catholic church was the only church at that time-it was a nationalist conflict.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

Without accepting the other person's thinking, you cannot further your own interest. You need the other's help to get results.
- Harri Holkeri Quote

Without rebuilding the confidence between parties, you will never succeed.
- Harri Holkeri Quote