Skip to content

The question

If you could put a message on a giant billboard, what would it say and why?
Denis Mukwege

Gynaecological surgeon; Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 2018

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
Taking action means saying 'no' to indifference. If there is a war to be waged, it is the war against the indifference which is eating away at our societies.

Nobel Peace Prize lecture, Oslo City Hall, Nobel Prize Outreach, 10 December 2018 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 25 →
Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany, 2005–2021; Leader of the Christian Democratic Union 2000–2018
Tear down walls of ignorance and narrow-mindedness, for nothing has to stay as it is.
Recorded Tercentenary Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Harvard Gazette, Harvard University, 30 May 2019 source ↗
Jacinda Ardern Prime Minister of New Zealand, 2017–2023; Leader of the Labour Party 2017–2023
We are the richer for our difference, and poorer for our division. Through genuine debate and dialogue, through rebuilding trust in information and one another, through empathy – let us reclaim the space in between.
Recorded Tercentenary Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard Magazine, 26 May 2022 source ↗
Wangari Maathai Founder of the Green Belt Movement; Member of Parliament for Tetu, Kenya, 2002–2007; Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources 2003–2005
In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.
Recorded Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 10 December 2004 source ↗
Malala Yousafzai Education campaigner; co-founder of the Malala Fund; United Nations Messenger of Peace
Why is it that countries which we call strong are so powerful in creating wars but are so weak in bringing peace? Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard? Why is it, why is it that making tanks is so easy, but building schools is so hard?
Recorded Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 10 December 2014 source ↗

More from Denis Mukwege

View profile →
Question What part of your job would surprise outsiders because it takes up so much of your time? Craft & work
When another baby arrived, I realized that the problem could not be solved in the operating room, but that we had to combat the root causes of these atrocities. I decided to travel to the village of Kavumu to talk to the men: why don't you protect your babies, your daughters, your wives? And where are the authorities?
Recorded Nobel Peace Prize lecture, Oslo City Hall, Nobel Prize Outreach, 10 December 2018 source ↗

More on time & hindsight

Also answered this

Peter Doherty, Ahmed Zewail, Richard Feynman, Marcus Rashford, Aung San Suu Kyi, Malala Yousafzai

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer