Quotes by Harri Holkeri

About Harri Holkeri:

Harri Hermanni Holkeri was a Finnish statesman representing the National Coalition Party of Finland (Kokoomus / Samlingspartiet). He was the Prime Minister of Finland 1987–1991, speaker of the UN General Assembly 2000–2001 and headed the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo from 2003- 2004 (leaving the position in the spring of the second year because of health issues).
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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

Harri Holkeri

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

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

I really do hope that the Millennium Summit gives new impetus to the work of the United Nations.

Harri Holkeri

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

Harri Holkeri

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

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

One of the biggest development issues in the world is the education of girls. In the United States and Europe, it has been accepted, but not in Africa and the developing countries.

Harri Holkeri

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

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

I think we have grave problems. I am very much concerned about environmental questions, even though in Finnish society, we are not facing the most urgent problems.

Harri Holkeri

When my first child was born in 1962, I wrote a letter to my grandfather telling him how happy I was but how concerned; concerned because there were so many visions which were not very good.

Harri Holkeri

The Baltic Sea is becoming more and more polluted. Not everybody living near the shore of the Baltic Sea is protecting it. It is the water of life for countries like Finland and Sweden.

Harri Holkeri

You cannot make easy decisions unless you first commit yourself to hard solutions.

Harri Holkeri

We Finns represent a very transparent and open-minded way of reaching political decisions.

Harri Holkeri

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

Harri Holkeri

Discussion is just a tool. You have to aim; the final goal must be a decision.

Harri Holkeri

Without rebuilding the confidence between parties, you will never succeed.

Harri Holkeri

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

Harri Holkeri

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

Author Bio

  • NameHarri Holkeri
  • DescriptionPrime Minister of Finland and speaker of the UN General Assembly
  • BornJanuary 6, 1937
  • DiedAugust 7, 2011
  • CountryFinland
  • ProfessionPolitician; Diplomat
  • AwardsKnight Commander Of The Order Of The British Empire