Truth and reconciliation' are always combined, but I would split them: I don't think Bosnia is ready for reconciliation, but I do think it is ready for truth. Paddy Ashdown More Quotes by Paddy Ashdown More Quotes From Paddy Ashdown In the modern age where everything is connected to everything, the most important thing about what you can do is what you can do with others. Paddy Ashdown modernimportantage The greatest failure is that although we have created institutions, we have not created a civil society. Paddy Ashdown civil-societyinstitutions There can be no place in a 21st-century parliament for people with 15th-century titles upholding 19th-century prejudices. Paddy Ashdown titlesprejudicepeople I've had much nastier things said about me in the British press than in the Bosnian press. Paddy Ashdown bosniansbritishnasty I can create institutions, but I can't rewrite the chips in people's heads. Paddy Ashdown chipsinstitutionspeople The advent of interconnectedness and of weapons of mass destruction means that, increasingly, I share a destiny with my enemy. Paddy Ashdown mass-destructiondestinymean Coalition will come sooner or later, I'm certain of that. Paddy Ashdown coalitionssooner-or-latercertain Blair is regarded by most people in Britain as a smarmy git. Paddy Ashdown britainblairpeople People do not want politicians they know to be corrupt. Paddy Ashdown politicianwantpeople Bosnia is under my skin. It's the place you cannot leave behind. I was obsessed by the nightmare of it all; there was this sense of guilt, and an anger that has become something much deeper over these last years. Paddy Ashdown angerhouseyears Politics is about putting yourself in a state of grace. Paddy Ashdown politicianpoliticsgrace It would be a foolish high representative who worked that way. Paddy Ashdown stupidwould-beway I can establish the expectation of retributive justice. Have we done that? No. Paddy Ashdown doneexpectationsjustice What my future will not be is active politics in the Liberal Democrat party. Paddy Ashdown my-futuredemocratparty My second job has been to try to use my power to create institutions of a modern state that could enter the European Union, and there was very little time. The door was closing, and I wanted to get Bosnia through before it shut. Paddy Ashdown doorseuropejobs The United States will remain the most powerful nation on Earth for the next 10, 15 years, but the context in which she holds her power has now radically altered. Paddy Ashdown united-statespowerfulyears At the next election he'll offer the British public an alternative that provides weight and substance and seriousness in a political debate that is, frankly, increasingly obsessed with modishness and flim-flam. Paddy Ashdown nextpoliticalweight I am formally accountable to the steering board of the PIC, and I meet with nine ambassadors from the PIC every week. I have to have the capitals' broad agreement with what I do. Paddy Ashdown ambassadorsboardsagreement We have to make their livelihoods viable, get them the proper prices for their produce, try and make them stay rather than sell their property and leave again. Paddy Ashdown propertyproducetrying Politics is compromise. Paddy Ashdown compromise
