Quotes by Atal Vajpayee

• The overwhelming public sentiment in India was that no meaningful dialogue can be held with Pakistan until it abandons the use of terrorism as an instrument of its foreign policy.
• The UN's unique legitimacy flows from a universal perception that it pursues a larger purpose than the interests of one country or a small group of countries.
• You can change friends but not neighbours.
• We hope the world will act in the spirit of enlightened self-interest.
• There was an implicit conviction that the UN would be stronger than the sum of its constituent member-states.
• The reality is that international institutions like the UN can only be as effective as its members allow it to be.
• Poverty is multidimensional. It extends beyond money incomes to education, health care, political participation and advancement of one's own culture and social organisation.
• People who ask us when we will hold talks with Pakistan are perhaps not aware that over the last 55 years, every initiative for a dialogue with Pakistan has invariably come from India.
• Global interdependence today means that economic disasters in developing countries could create a backlash on developed countries.
• Our nuclear weapons are meant purely as a deterrent against nuclear adventure by an adversary.
• No state should be allowed to profess partnership with the global coalition against terror, while continuing to aid, abet and sponsor terrorism.
• In the euphoria after the Cold War, there was a misplaced notion that the UN could solve every problem anywhere.
• We believe that the United States and the rest of the international community can play a useful role by exerting influence on Pakistan to put a permanent and visible end to cross-border terrorism against India.
• The Bio-diversity Convention has not yielded any tangible benefits to the world's poor.