Paul Rusesabagina Quotes

• If we want to change things, we must first change ourselves. If we want to play - if we want to change the world - we must first show up on the field to score.

  Paul Rusesabagina

  Play, World, Want

  "Oprah Talks to Paul Rusesabagina". Interview with Oprah Winfrey, www.oprah.com. March 2006.

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• A sad truth of human nature is that it is hard to care for people when they are abstractions, hard to care when it is not you or somebody close to you. Unless the world community can stop finding ways to dither in the face of this monstrous threat to humanity those words Never Again will persist in being one of the most abused phrases in the English language and one of the greatest lies of our time.

  Paul Rusesabagina

  Lying, People, Community

  Paul Rusesabagina, Tom Zoellner (2006). “An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography”, p.206, Penguin

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• Facts are almost irrelevant to most people. We make decisions based on emotion and then justify them later with whatever facts we can scrounge up in our defense.

  Paul Rusesabagina

  People, Decision, Defense

  Paul Rusesabagina (2009). “An Ordinary Man: The True Story Behind Hotel Rwanda”, p.83, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• We are all born with a powerful herd instinct and it can force otherwise rational people to act in inexplicable ways.

  Paul Rusesabagina

  Powerful, People, Way

  Paul Rusesabagina, Tom Zoellner (2006). “An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography”, p.219, Penguin

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• Our time here on the earth is short, and our chance to make a difference is tiny. For me the grinding blocks of history came together in such a way that I was able to take what fragile defense I had and hold in place for seventy-six days. If I was able to give much it was only because I had some useful things from my life to give. I am a hotel manager...my job never changed, even in a sea of fire.

  Paul Rusesabagina

  Jobs, Block, Sea

  Paul Rusesabagina (2009). “An Ordinary Man: The True Story Behind Hotel Rwanda”, p.131, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• This is why I say that the individual's most potent weapon is a stubborn belief in the triumph of common decency.

  Paul Rusesabagina

  Common Decency, Triumph, Stubborn

  Paul Rusesabagina (2009). “An Ordinary Man: The True Story Behind Hotel Rwanda”, p.130, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• Kindness is not an illusion and violence is not a rule. The true resting state of human affairs is not represented by a man hacking his neighbor into pieces with a machete. That is a sick aberration. No, the true state of human affairs is life as it ought to be lived.

  Paul Rusesabagina

  Kindness, Men, Sick

  Paul Rusesabagina (2009). “An Ordinary Man: The True Story Behind Hotel Rwanda”, p.130, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• "There is no greater gift to an insecure leader that quite matches a vague enemy who can be used to whip up fear and hatred among the population."

  Paul Rusesabagina

  Fear, Insecure, Hatred

  Paul Rusesabagina (2009). “An Ordinary Man: The True Story Behind Hotel Rwanda”, p.29, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• History never seems to teach us any lessons. But that is no reason to give up.

  Paul Rusesabagina

  Giving Up, Lessons, Reason

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• Pastors started killing their church members and church members killed pastors. Husbands killed wives. It's a situation no one can describe.

  Paul Rusesabagina

  Husband, Wife, Church

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• I think I'm a happy man, and I'm a blessed man. I have been able to adjust to any situation, whatever it was, in my life.

  Paul Rusesabagina

  Blessed, Men, Thinking

  Interview with Julia M. Klein, www.motherjones.com. May/June 2006.

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• Our days are so few, our existences so complicated. As long as we're breathing we shouldn't further complicate our lives.

  Paul Rusesabagina

  Breathing, Long, Complicated

  Interview with Oprah Winfrey, www.oprah.com. March 2006.

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• Everybody was willing to give me a job. But I wanted to do something different. I saw myself as an independent person, self-employed.

  Paul Rusesabagina

  Jobs, Independent, Self

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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