I'm not the poorest president. The poorest is the one who needs a lot to live. My lifestyle is a consequence of my wounds. I'm the son of my history. There have been years when I would have been happy just to have a mattress. Jose Mujica More Quotes by Jose Mujica More Quotes From Jose Mujica No country can solve climate change alone, we have to take global measures. Jose Mujica climate-change climate country Worse that drugs is drug trafficking. Much worse. Drugs are a disease, and I don't think that there are good drugs or that marijuana is good. Nor cigarettes. No addiction is good. I include alcohol. The only good addiction is love. Forget everything else. Jose Mujica marijuana powerful humble We applied a very simple principle: Recognize the facts. Abortion is old as the world. Gay marriage, please - it's older than the world. We had Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, please. To say it's modern, come on, it's older than we are. It's an objective reality that it exists. For us, not legalizing it would be to torture people needlessly. Jose Mujica gay powerful humble We have sacrificed the old immaterial gods, and now we are occupying the temple of the Market-God. He organizes our economy, our politics, our habits, our lives, and even provides us with rates and credit cards and gives us the appearance of happiness. Jose Mujica powerful humble giving It has always been like that with changes. In 1913, we established divorce as a right for women in Uruguay. You know what they were saying back then? That families would dissolve. That it was the end of good manners and society. There has always been a conservative and traditional opinion out there that's afraid of change. When I was young and would go dancing at balls, we'd have to wear suits and ties. Otherwise they wouldn't let us in. I don't think anyone dresses up for dancing parties nowadays. Jose Mujica party powerful humble But we think as people and countries, not as a species. Jose Mujica humble country thinking I think the ideal way of living is to live like the vast majority of people whom we attempt to serve and represent. Jose Mujica humble people thinking I never killed anyone because it wasn't necessary. I could have killed. Jose Mujica I was no assassin. I got out during the amnesty because I had not committed any violent crimes. Jose Mujica assassins amnesty crime Help does not mean to intervene. I will not meddle if I am not invited to do so. But if I can serve as a go-between with my experience, I will support the government's call for dialogue with the rebel forces who also have their problems, who also have their fears. I think all us Latin Americans have to help. Jose Mujica powerful humble latin What's sad is that an 80-year-old grandpa has to be the open-minded one. Old people aren't old because of their age, but because of what's in their heads. They are horrified at this, but they aren't horrified at what's happening in the streets? Jose Mujica powerful humble years I may appear to be an eccentric old man... But this is a free choice. Jose Mujica choices may men My goal is to achieve a little less injustice in Uruguay, to help the most vulnerable and to leave behind a political way of thinking, a way of looking at the future that will be passed on and used to move forward. There's nothing short-term, no victory around the corner. I will not achieve paradise or anything like that. What I want is to fight for the common good to progress. Life slips by. The way to prolong it is for others to continue your work. Jose Mujica powerful humble moving I've seen some springs that ended up being terrible winters. We human beings are gregarious. We can't live alone. For our lives to be possible, we depend on society. It's one thing to overturn a government or block the streets. But it's a different matter altogether to create and build a better society, one that needs organization, discipline and long-term work. Let's not confuse the two of them. I want to make it clear: I feel sympathetic with that youthful energy, but I think it's not going anywhere if it doesn't become more mature. Jose Mujica block powerful spring From afar, it seems like a war without a solution and like a long sacrifice for the entire country. So when a president appears who tries to open a path to peace, I think that deserves support, because there is a lot of pain, and if they try to settle scores, the war will never end. But there is an opportunity. I would feel selfish if I did not help in any way. Jose Mujica pain powerful country If these people were humble people of the desert, poor people, they'd surely be stronger and more primitive, but they're not, through their hands, features and family histories, it seems to me that they're middle class. Jose Mujica world I'm not the apocalypse nor the promised land. Jose Mujica promised nor apocalypse land The political climate during a campaign is not the best climate for reasonable debate. Jose Mujica best debate climate political I give myself the luxury of saying what I want. Jose Mujica saying myself luxury want I have the goal of getting together 30 or 40 poor kids and bringing them to live with me. Jose Mujica live me poor together