Mikhail Gorbachev
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1985–1991; President of the Soviet Union 1990–1991
I have been suspected of utopian thinking more than once, and particularly when five years ago I proposed the elimination of nuclear weapons by the year 2000 and joint efforts to create a system of international security. It may well be that by that date it will not have happened. But look, merely five years have passed and have we not actually and noticeably moved in that direction?
Recorded
Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 5 June 1991
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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
Initially, the work was difficult because historically our people have been persuaded to believe that because they are poor, they lack not only capital, but also knowledge and skills to address their challenges. Instead they are conditioned to believe that solutions to their problems must come from 'outside'.
Recorded
Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 10 December 2004
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Mohamed ElBaradei
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 1997-2009; Nobel Peace Prize 2005
In all this we can only move forward, if we work in a multilateral setting; and that also is another dimension of this – that is recognises the importance of multilateralism. As the citation says, “broadest international co-operation”. We can only win together or lose together, Marika. I think that’s something I have been saying for quite a while and you probably will hear me say more of that, as we go forward.
Recorded
Nobel Prize telephone interview, 7 October 2005, 7 October 2005
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Aung San Suu Kyi
Leader of the National League for Democracy; Nobel Peace Prize laureate; State Counsellor of Myanmar, 2016–2021
If I advocate cautious optimism it is not because I do not have faith in the future but because I do not want to encourage blind faith.
Recorded
Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 16 June 2012
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Sonia Sotomayor
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 2009–present
Well, what's very interesting is that those people read our opinions which can be, at moments, rather animated. An animated exchange in writing among the justices. And many people who read our opinions think we have to be at each other's necks constantly. It's interesting we're not. When we're talking about cases at our conference it's generally a conversation. It's really a talk about what our perspectives are and why we have reached the conclusions we've reached.
Recorded
Terry Gross, Fresh Air, NPR, 13 January 2014
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